Sun, heat, dry throat. Your hand tightens around the icy can, speckled with tiny water droplets. You twist the lid… ” Pssst! ” Relief. The fizzy liquid slides down your throat. Carbon dioxide rises to your nose, your eyes water, but it feels so good! And yet…

About ten minutes later

Empty can, you just swallowed the equivalent of seven sugar cubes! [1] Actually, you should feel sick. [2] However, the phosphoric acid in soda masks the sugar with a tart taste, giving the illusion of quenching your thirst. [3]

After about twenty minutes

Blood sugar levels rise dramatically, testing the body for the first time. The pancreas goes into overdrive, secreting massive amounts of insulin. This insulin is essential; it’s the only way to convert the massive excess sugar in the blood into fat, which the body can better handle. The pancreas can store fat, albeit in the form of unsightly bulges, but these are temporarily harmless, whereas glucose is deadly when present in high concentrations in the blood. Only the liver can store glucose, but its capacity is very limited.

After about forty minutes

The high caffeine content in Coca-Cola is completely absorbed by the body. It dilates the pupils and raises blood pressure. At the same time, the sugar stores in the liver become overloaded, causing sugar to be released into the bloodstream.