Yeah well why would anybody believe that if a soda can be used in such ways that it is also bad for you? I mean I flush the toilet with water! With WATER! And it removes most traces of excrement... Arg, it must be bad for you!
or to reverse it - do you know anybody drinking coke in same amounts as usage of vinegar when pouring over salad?
But ok, to make break your point I need to provide you with an example of a liquid that cleans the toilet just as well as coke but is healthy while drinking similar amounts. How about lemon juice, diluted to be drinkable without any direct adverse effects on your health and with the same pH as the coke. I'm just guessing but I think it is possible to do that.
What folks use over a salad is much more paletable - a sweet tasting weak vinegar + oil, and sometimes a touch of sugar. This doesn't make it any better or worse than sodas, simply different. There are many things we eat that aren't something we can do in really large quantities or things that can also have industrial or cleaning purposes. This doesn't make these dangerous, simply multipurpose depending on amount and strength.
Hell, you can get very sick by drinking too much water - or get too dehydrated - and can die if you try to breath it. Yet, water is pretty necessary and healthy to have.
Edit: Ok, wanted to make a correction after thinking more about that day: My consumed amount was likely around half that. I was consuming various other oddities during this time as well (drinking hot sauce for example) and there couldn't have been room for 16oz of just vinegar. If you've not played around with those tablets, I recommend it even if you get some stomach upset from the things you consume.
About the only ill effect would be some heartburn. Tums to the rescue
Now a new experiment: Will Upland Sours dissolve a nail in 4 days?
And what is that supposed to prove?
People regularly drink "half a litre" or 2lt of Coke and report back just fine.
The main reason not to drink half a littre of vinegar is its taste and extra acidity.
If it had the same acidity as Coke AND better taste it would be fine to drink.
Lemon juice has a pH of about 2, while most colas are more Alkaline at around 2.5. My mom eats lemons raw nearly every day. Sometimes limes (pH ~2.2).
But then again, vinegar is a fairly common cleaning agent: Baking soda and salt are fairly effective as well. I've used salt and lemon juice to clean tarnish off of copper: Toothpaste to clean the tarnish off of silver jewelry or shine up gold. None of these are viewed as bad or unhealthy in the doses we tend to consume them in. Vegetable oils and waxes are used in industrial applications: Soy can be used as a base for ink and lipstick.
Stomach acid itself is about as strong as battery acid, actually. And this is something your body produces and is necessary.
Basically: There are a great many chemicals that have multiple uses, and are only dangerous when used in sufficient amounts or on specific surfaces.
Absolutely, but I'd be worried about someone who chugged any of those things in the same quantity peopole tend to drink coke.
Not really comparable to consuming 2 cans of salt, baking soda, toothpaste, etc.
And would you really be worried for people drinking several cans of lemon juice per day?
The most apt comparison with lemon juice to coke would be lemonade, though. And some folks do drink quite a bit of that.
Yes, absolutely. It's pretty damaging to teeth if consumed regularly, AIUI.
(Personal experience: I once started drinking a few glasses of orange juice (weaker than lemon) daily, within a year I needed four fillings. Stopped drinking it immediately afterwards, haven't needed fillings before or since).
Vinegar might be somewhat of an exception - especially apple cider vinegar. Folks use it for a natural cure, some folks drinking a glass multiple times a day. I'm personally suspicious and it seems in these sorts of amounts it isn't the safest thing for folks [1]. Again, quantities, preparation, and dosages matter.
[1] http://www.livestrong.com/article/494866-recommended-amount-...
Generally, yes.
>and its ability to dissolve the material on which it is applied
(Bio)chemistry is a bit more complicated than that. But anyway, if you have calcium or similar waterproof stalagmites in your intestines, you'd better get rid of those asap.
What effectiveness? Who even does that? And from those who do it, who measured the effectiveness compared to plain water?