The Chemical Ingrediants of Soft-drinks, and how they are made

The Chemical Ingrediants of Soft-drinks, and how they are made

Soft Drinks
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The sheer amount of soft drink consumption first induced me to take a closer look at the true chemical ingredients of soft drinks. Are they really as bad as some have said? Was there an actual health reason behind the removal of soft drink machines in Seattle schools? Just a bit of shallow research was enough to convince me that this product was worth further investigation. One in every four drinks consumed in the US is a soft drink, and globally, soft drinks are the third most-consumed beverage. They are the best selling product in American grocery stores. Soft drink makers spend enormous sums to advertise their products. Certainly, a company such as Coca-Cola, who has signed both Christina Aguilera and Harry Potter for promotion purposes, deserves a bit of investigation. At first I figured that, of course, there is chemistry in the making of sodas, but what processes exactly, I had no idea. Ever since third grade I had heard people entertain rumors like,   “a tooth placed in coke will disappear over night”. Surely, some wicked chemicals must be at work there. Also, how in the world is the liquid made so fizzy? To produce those hundreds of flavors of soft drinks there must be some intricate chemical process.
Indeed, several of the components of soft drinks have undergone severe scrutiny from diet-mad critics, but even the average consumer today has some questions about the ingredients of soft drinks. Unfortunately, the exact ingredients and processes in which soft drinks are made are in a titanium safe, guarded by a five-ton, eight-headed pit bull. Well, not exactly, but the recipes are closely guarded company secrets. What they will tell us is this:
Soft drink production starts with flavored syrup, its recipe, very much a secret. The syrup is mixed with purified water and then carbonated by adding carbon dioxide gas under pressure.
This is a vague description, and doesn’t really get at the juicy facts we, as consumers, want to know. Now...