The last time I went all number-crunchy on you, it was in response to the hyper-sensationalized media warnings of nuclear fallout from Fukushima, specifically in reference to dosage and radioactive iodine, NOAA Studies now show that radiation levels are well below the danger levels, even in fish swimming in contaminated water. Go Figure . We're going that route again, though on a slightly different subject, and now:
Everybody FREAK OUT!!! at least that's what the people in California and at NIH want you to do. They have found that a key ingredient in Coke and Pepsi causes CANCER!!
OK, now that I have your attention, lets dissect this headline a little. I heard this little tidbit while I was dutifully watching C-Span like every responsible citizen should (OK, so I'm a nerd, you did read the title of this blog right?) and there was a meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Women in Politics or something and one of them mentioned that regular people can have power too, just look at what the people were able to do concerning the cancer causing agents in Coke!
Now, this is of no small amount of concern to me since I usually have 1 coke per day, and I savor that moment. If my favorite carbonated beverage is causing cancer, I'm going to be a little put out. So I went and checked it out. I looked at the actual NIH Study and did some number crunching (this is the math part). Given certain facts like:
A. The cancer causing agent is in the caramel coloring (its called 4-Methylimidazole or 4-MEI)
B. There are about 130 micro-grams in each can (roughly the equivalent of a single grain of salt in your salt shaker)
C. The amount of 4-MEI given to test rats is ....large
D. Using their own dose numbers (30, 55 and 115 mg/kg per day), we can calculate that the average human (5' 8", 175 lbs.) would have to consume levels of 2.4, 4.4, and 12.3g of raw chemical, per day.
E. That amount of raw chemical is enough to color between 18,400 and 95,000 cans of coke PER DAY.
These numbers are shown not to cause cancer in laboratory test subjects (rats and mice). It not until we reach the extremely high dosage level of 24.6g/day (190,000 cans of coke) does the evidence of cancer shows up. Now, I like Coke, but I think that it is not physically possible for one to consume 190,000 cans of coke in a day, anyone?
