File this one under… a really bad idea. Coca-Cola, looking to stem the tide of health concerns about its flagship brew, has enlisted the service of a one, Professor Susan Fairweather-Tait, to conduct trials to see if Coke can increase iron absorption from pizza.

Professor Susan Fairweather-Tait, who is leading this ground-breaking and much needed research, says “It is driven by public health needs. There is a global program to eradicate iron deficiency anaemia, and the reason we are doing this is that we need to find easy ways to help people absorb more iron. Drinking the right sorts of drinks with your meal is one way of doing that. If you have a fruit or acid drink with your meal we know you get more iron that if you have a cup of tea.

“A lot of young people have become iron deficient and we need to find ways of helping children who eat junk food and not much meat and don’t get much iron. If we can find something people like drinking as opposed to creating some new functional health food that they are not going to bother with, then we feel it is adding to nutrition.

“Coke may not have the image of being a health food, but it may well do some good.”

What is this company smoking? Cola consumption has been linked with rising rates of obesity and diabetes, not to mention osteoporosis and increased fracture rates in young women. If you want a drink to increase the absorption of iron from food, drink water with some fresh-squeezed lemon juice. Save the Coke for stripping the paint off your car.

A large systemic review to be published in the American Journal of Public Health , links soft drink consumption with greater calorie consumption and body weight. The review concludes “recommendations to reduce population soft drink consumption are strongly supported by the available science.”

This is really nothing new and just another nail in the coffin over the soda-obesity link debate. Problem is when we consume calories from any drink we are not satisfying our appetite so we don’t wind up eating less of other foods. Watch out, because these calories add up quickly. Consuming just two 12 ounce coca-cola drinks a day for a year can lead to over 32 lbs of weight gain, so if you’re looking to lose weight avoid any calorie drinks.

The American Beverage Association gave their spin on the debate “it is not feasible to blame any one food product or beverage as being a sole contributor to obesity… No science supports such a claim.”

thanks, but I’ll drink water instead…