Sip Up, Sucker

Social networking sites like Facebook are alight with a graphic that reportedly details what can happen when you drink a single can of Coca-Cola.

First posted on the Renegade Pharmacist website, the infographic give a detailed illustration of what happens after drinking the soda. Ten teaspoons of sugar enter the body and it goes downhill from there. There are sugar spikes, a burst of insulin, the liver turning sugar into fat, and then a sugar crash an hour later.

The viral infographic comes as soft drink giants Coca-Cola Co. and its competitor PepsiCo. are pushing a Mixify campaign to encourage consumers to mix up their beverage intake a bit and add in a splash of exercise.

“Since our products can play a part in that equation, we’ve teamed up to help make it easier to find a balanced mix that feels oh so right,” Mixify says on its website. “Balance what you eat and drink with what you do. That’s how you Mixify.”

The Mixify campaign encourages consumers to mix up their beverage intake a bit and add in a splash of exercise.

So is all of this realistic, or a bit manipulative? Maybe it’s a bit of both.

“Like the fox educating the chickens,” said Dr. Robert Huizenga, who works with the television shows “The Biggest Loser” and “American Gladiator.”

“This group has no credibility as honest health educators,” Huizenga said.

Others say the real target of the Mixify campaign is would-be regulators, who Coke and Pepsi would like to get off their backs so the soft drink companies can continue peddling their products.

The ads from Coke, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi claim to want to help teens find a balance of consuming and exercising. Mixify touts it as a public service announcement with “tips, tools and inspiration to help find a balance that’s right for you.”

But the campaign has a credibility issue. Soft drinks are loaded with sugar.

“Soft drinks are literally poison to the 80 percent of Americans who are overweight and underfit,” Huizenga said.

Finally comes the Mixify idea that you should suck down more sugar because you worked out, or played outside. That’s one reason people who start working out sometimes actually gain weight. They see exercise as a license to eat more.

But the reality? It takes more than half an hour of hard swimming, or a two-hour walk, to burn off a 16-ounce Coke. But get to the exercise soon after downing that soft drink. An hour after taking that last sip, you’re probably going to have less energy because of the sugar crash.