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Cola is a plant that is known to be of appreciable health benefit. It used to be sold in pharmacies and probably still is. 100 years ago somebody hit upon the idea of using it in a soda drink, leading to widespread use today. But is there still cola in today's "colas"?

Mikhail Katz
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The early coca-cola recipies (the first "cola") contained extract from the coca plant, and thus contained small doses of cocaine up until 1903 where cocaine was replaced with caffeine from the kola nut. However, nowadays the kola nut has been replaced with other sources of caffeine (mainly synthetic caffeine) and flavorings in most colas.

You should certainly not expect health benefits from any cola since the copious amounts of sugar outweigh any potential benefits from trace amounts of kola extract that may be found in some exceptional colas even today.

Thawn
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  • The linked article is a commented recipe with all sorts of side comments. Looking through it quickly I could not determine which the relevant parts are. Which passages did you mean to quote? – Mikhail Katz Jun 20 '16 at 07:01
  • I am simply referring to the fact that the recipe states "add 1 ounce of caffeine" which obviously means synthetic caffeine since otherwise it should state add x ounces of kola nut extract. The whole recipe does not mention koka nut at all. Also, the recipe claims quite convincingly that it is based on at least an early version of the coca cola recipe. – Thawn Jun 20 '16 at 12:01
  • Thanks. Do you have a source for the information that "...up until the late 19th century where cocaine was replaced with caffeine from the kola nut." ? – Mikhail Katz Jun 20 '16 at 12:05
  • Its in the coca cola recipe article on wikipedia. I added a direct link to the relevant section for your convenience. – Thawn Jun 20 '16 at 12:07
  • Today Coca-Cola still contains coca-extract (that is de-cocainized), they are the largest customer of legal coca outside South America https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola#Coca_.E2.80.93_cocaine Similarly cola-nut is used in an "original cola" and caffeine just has to be listed separately. Citing a random cola-like ecipe does not rule out what's really in commercial drinks of that type. – LаngLаngС Sep 12 '17 at 08:30
  • @LangLangC Thank you for the additional info on coca in Coca-Cola. However, if you read my answer carefully, I never claim that there is no coca in Coca-Cola. I claim that there is no cocaine in Coca-Cola. Also, I clearly state that there is cola in some softdrinks (but afaik not in Coca Cola). I don't see any disagreement between my answer and your comment. – Thawn Sep 26 '17 at 14:18
  • @Thawn It was only meant as an addition since I found the post as is a bit ambivalent to read. "contained" coca extract and then switching from original coke to most colas for kola-nut extract. – LаngLаngС Sep 27 '17 at 11:23