Pepsi Spice Project

image For the past week (ever since Nov. 14) Brian has been drinking nothing but Pepsi Holiday Spice. He will continue to drink nothing but Pepsi Holiday Spice until Christmas Day. It's his strange, self-appointed mission for himself, apparently inspired by the movie Supersize Me (as well as the fact that his friend bet him $1000 that he couldn't do it). On his blog he's recording the health effects of all this Pepsi Spice drinking. Now, I've never had the stuff myself (though I plan to get some), but I seriously doubt that any soft drink is so bad that it would cause all the health problems he's experienced in the nine days since he started the project. For instance, he's already gained twenty pounds. He's started sneezing. He's developed a strange cyst on his neck. And his urine has turned red. He's blaming all this on the Pepsi Spice. The red urine... maybe. But I don't understand how anyone could gain that much weight in nine days just from switching what they drink, unless they were consuming huge amounts of the new drink (which he doesn't claim to be doing). So I'm guessing that he's making up most of the stuff on his blog. Either that, or he's allergic to the drink (in which case his health problems should be worse than they are).

Food

Posted on Wed Nov 24, 2004


Comments

If he's consuming anything like the 3 litres per day that is the recommended (at least by some sources) liquid intake I wouldn't be surprised if he were putting on weight pretty quickly...
Posted by paul in prague  on  Wed Nov 24, 2004  at  03:32 AM
Keep in mind that you can't gain more weight than you put in.
Posted by PlantPerson  on  Wed Nov 24, 2004  at  06:50 AM
It seems to me like he's exaggerating. My question is, if he's making this stuff up, isn't he opening himself up to legal action from Pepsi?
Posted by AqueousBoy  on  Wed Nov 24, 2004  at  09:11 AM
It seems kind of gross anyway. Besides, he's (supposedly) getting $1000 to do this, but he's had to go to the Dr's office twice, he's buying tons of Pepsi...I know the news station gave him a bunch, but if he's consuming it as quickly as it seems, he's going to have to buy more soon. Also, if he keeps losing his clothes & bleeding on his sheets then he's going to have to replace them. Will he profit from this at all??
Posted by Maegan  on  Wed Nov 24, 2004  at  09:26 AM
Yeah. I don't think this is real. The blog is just strangeness. I drink a lot of soda every day and never experience any of those problems. Exaggeration makes the net go round.
Posted by Bill B.  on  Wed Nov 24, 2004  at  11:24 AM
3 litres of sweet soda every day and you will become a diabetic in very very short time - one or two weeks. That guy must exam his blood ASAP.
Posted by Loxx  on  Wed Nov 24, 2004  at  11:38 AM
I don't think 3 litres of soda a day would turn you into a diabetic that quickly... certainly not in a week or so. In the long run, yes. But not in a few weeks.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Wed Nov 24, 2004  at  11:56 AM
There is a possibility that he could have put on that much weight in the time alotted, simply because of the way insulin is produced in the body. if all of his energy is coming in the form of glucose and fructose, his blood sugar is doing a roller coaster, and his body is producing an inordinate amount of insulin to concentrate. insulin prompts the body to store fat. If he has a predisposition to store fat this way, 20 pounds is not out of the realm of possibility. It could be argued that the weight put on in Supersize me was NOT the result of the fat and protein in the diet (since they produce a negligible insulin response) rather the sugar, processed flour, and other chemical and sugar-related products consumed during that time.
Posted by mr man  on  Wed Nov 24, 2004  at  12:22 PM
Take in too much sugar, and you can be headed for rapid weight gain.
As the sugar level in the blood goes up, one of the body's reactions is to demand more fluid in an attempt to thin out and so reduce the concentration of sugar. The victim feels very thirsty, drinks more cans of soda, raises sugar levels further.
If the body's fluid disposal system is not working properly, especially if it is retaining fluid to reduce sugar concentration, then weight increase rapidly.
I personally have some of these problems, as a result of virus leading to fluid retention, to heart failure, to diabetes (note that in my case diabetes came 2 years later).
One treatment was to reduce the fluids. I lost 14 kilos in 7 days. 3.2 of those kilos in 45 minutes - the direct approach of pushing a big needle into my abdomen and allowing a controlled flow. I now drink diet soda.
Upshot. If someone is drinking lots of soda, there can quickly be an chain reaction of weight gain.
Posted by Andy  on  Wed Nov 24, 2004  at  07:18 PM
This is Redban, Hollywood Joe Rogan's hired video monkey. He thought he would have some fun with this hoax. Go to Rogan's message board at http://www.joerogan.net and you'll find a detailed account of all this. Or http://www.redban.com. Hahaha, though, there are a lot of people posting serious responses. Just shows I am smarter and better looking than all you. Just representing the Bronx.
Posted by anon  on  Thu Nov 25, 2004  at  02:11 AM
Poor guy,he
Posted by Evey  on  Thu Nov 25, 2004  at  05:03 AM
sounds like someone trying to cash in on ripping off "super size me"
Posted by dee  on  Thu Nov 25, 2004  at  06:11 AM
Now the guy's plugging robots, Target, & Ipod.
Posted by Maegan  on  Sun Nov 28, 2004  at  10:59 AM
Just to be cheeky, I wanted to see how many calories vs. pounds he'd taken on. At today's current PS intake count, he would have taken in 36800 extra calories. Assuming that he wouldn't have taken any of those calories in otherwise & activity is the same, that's 10.333(etc) pounds possibly gained. Sooo, *strictly from a calorie stance*, he couldn't have gained that much just from the Spice. if he is feeling as crappy as he claims, though, he might be getting less activity. Assuming this isn't a hoax, that is. 😊

Take care,
Winona
Posted by Winona  on  Mon Nov 29, 2004  at  05:02 PM
it's funny how many people post comments but don't bother reading any.
Posted by me  on  Mon Nov 29, 2004  at  07:41 PM
IT'S A HOAX!

Someone had already put out the details on Redban.

GEEZ! Read the earlier postings thoroughly.
Posted by JC  on  Wed Dec 01, 2004  at  02:45 AM
It's most definately a hoax. If it wasn't obvious before, it was a dead give away when he posted a few days ago he said Lindsay Lohan was at his house and gave him her IDs to scan to "prove" it... do a search on google for "Lindsay Lohan's Driver's license" and you'll see that her ID's were lost and the same picture on this pepsi spice site is the same one appearing all over the web because someone found her purse and posted the pics. All of it's BS.
Posted by Tink  on  Fri Dec 10, 2004  at  06:49 PM
Bryan Redban is a comedian and made this blog up as a prank. He talks about it on the Joe Rogan Experience episode #361
SOLVED
Posted by Josh  on  Tue Jun 18, 2013  at  07:55 PM
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