A book newly acquired by the Thammasat University Libraries explains why cutting down on the number of sodas you drink may be a good idea.

The Coke machine: the dirty truth behind the world’s favorite soft drink by Michael Blanding discusses how a giant multinational corporation was created from a company founded in the 1800s to produce medicine. With massive outreach, Coca-Cola is officially available in every country in the world except Cuba and North Korea, although it reportedly can be obtained there as well. The TU Libraries own a number of books about how Coca-Cola conducts business internationally, including For God, country and Coca-Cola: the unauthorized history of the great American soft drink and the company that makes it; The real thing: truth and power at the Coca-Cola Company; Secret formula: how brilliant marketing and relentless salesmanship made Coca-Cola the best-known product in the world; Coca-globalization: following soft drinks from New York to New Guinea; and I’d like the world to buy a coke: the life and leadership of Roberto Goizueta.

Like these, Blanding discusses the dangerous effects on health of drinking too much of any soda, whether a sugary or diet drink. Cola-Cola markets its product to children, starting them early in the habit of drinking empty calories. It sometimes has had high levels of pesticides in its drinks, and has violent business practices in some of the countries where it operates. In America, after over a century of experience with Coca-Cola, doctors have found that in addition to too much sugar, Coca-Cola contains an excess of caffeine. Yet Blanding points out that in most of the world, Coca-Cola enjoys a family-friendly, beneficial corporate image. Despite this, Coca-Cola aggressively markets its products in schools. If Coke vending machines are placed in schools, it becomes very difficult to remove them without battling the corporation in courts. Schools desperately needing money might allow Coca-Cola machines to be installed, but if they regret this decision later, they find the company unwilling to remove them.

A difficult employer.

Blanding discusses Cola-Cola as an employer in such countries as Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and India, where employees who tried to form a union were threatened with violence. In 1976 in Guatemala, some workers who wanted to form a union to improve their salaries – they earned only two dollars US (65 baht) per day – were killed.

Coca-Cola in Thailand

Coca-Cola has been available in Thailand since 1949, and in 2012 it reached 30 billion baht in sales in the Kingdom, representing 21 percent growth on the previous year. Coca-Cola (Thailand) Ltd. is the nation’s leading non-alcoholic beverage business in Thailand, employing over 10,000 workers in seven bottling plants and over 80 warehouses. It markets Coca-Cola as well as Coke Zero, Coke Light, Sprite, Fanta, Schweppes, A&W Root Beer, Namthip bottled water, Minute Maid Splash, Minute Maid Pulpy, Minute Maid Nutriboost and Habu. As in other countries, Coca-Cola (Thailand) markets intensively to young consumers. In 2013 The Nation reported on Coke’s special Thailand marketing campaign. This so-called “Be Fizzy, Be Bold, Share a Coke” campaign printed nicknames and expressions on over 250 million cans and bottles of Coca-Cola, including Kon Naa-rak, Kon Jing-jai, Kon Pi-sed, Kon Suay, and Kon Lor. According to Coca-Cola (Thailand)’s Greek-born marketing director, this sales gimmick was the “result of a special cultural insight into the way Thai people behave. We know that Thai people are positive and happy … But they are also very reserved about expressing how they feel about other people, especially when those feelings are mixed with special emotions or are particularly complimentary. We want to make it easier for people to spread positive feelings and goodwill towards those they love or admire, because that is one of Coca-Cola’s most special brand attributes.”

Positive and happy?

Unfortunately, for several years Thai people have already been consuming too much Western junk food, as a visit to a mall at any time of the day or evening will prove. Pizza, KFC, McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Swensen’s and other popular but unhealthy brands are washed down with sodas, adding to the problem. Older Thai people may remember more natural and healthy desserts based on banana, coconut, beans, rice, or taro wrapped in a banana leaf. Too many children now tend to prefer what they see on TV commercials. Past generations who were happy drinking water and coconut juice are now gulping down Coca-Cola. The Thai Health Promotion Foundation is considering proposing a tax on sweet, high-calorie foods, since a healthy amount of sugar to consume each day is six teaspoons, but the average Thai person consumes 23.4 teaspoons of sugar per day, or almost four times the healthy amount.

Trying to cut down.

Would an extra tax work? In the past, Mexico has taxed sugary drinks and snack foods and these products were slightly less popular when they became more costly. For now, if we make an effort to reduce the amount of Coca-Cola and other sodas we consume, we can easily improve our overall health. Some people complain that it is impossible to cut out drinking Coke entirely. If they try to do so, they get a headache because of lack of caffeine. Without a bottle of Coke early in the morning, they feel sleepy and lacking energy because they are used to giant doses of sugar. Reducing amounts of Coca-Cola may be more realistic than trying to stop drinking it entirely, if this has been your habit for years. Yet even reducing a little can make a difference.

A reliable study from the Harvard School of Public Health states that sugary drinks increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other chronic conditions. If you drink one to two cans a day or more of sugary drinks, you have a 26% greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes than people who rarely choose such drinks. Other studies found that people who drank one can of a sugary drink daily had a 20% higher risk of having a heart attack or dying from a heart attack than those who avoid such drinks. This is true for men and women alike. Yet another study of women’s health discovered that women who drink a can of sugary drink daily have a 75% higher risk of gout than women who do not. Diet sodas can also have bad effects on the health, even if they have no sugar, so it is best to find other tasty drinks that are not sodas. It is almost impossible to persuade five-year-old children who want to drink Coke to choose a healthy beverage instead, but maybe seeing adults in the family enjoying something else may make them want to try something different.

(all images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).