BPA in plastic bottles: alarmism or not?

[Tsyroc]

In relation to getting away from plastic bottles but also avoiding a return to glass, has anyone actually come across Coca Cola in aluminum bottles? I remember there being a few designs and they were supposed to be based on the classic coke bottle shape but I have not run across any myself.

The little bit I've looked around on the internet I get the impression that the "bottlecan" is something that might be marketed as an improvement or replacement for plastic bottles for products other than just coke. Certainly a better job is done recycling aluminum than plastic in the US and the companies making aluminum bottles claim products taste better and hold their chill in aluminum better than they do in plastic.

[Knife]

As I understand it, it is the individual cells that become resistant to the insulin molecule, not the immune system attacking the hormone.

The functional parts of the molecule are completely identical, so I don't see how this could happen, but I'll check.
...
For example, pubmed link. It seems that I recalled correctly.

Fair enough.

[Dahak]

Water (sparking, mostly) is still sold mostly in resuable water bottles in Germany, though the plastic ones are getting more and more market share. Beer, wine usually, too. Some beverages are sold in drink cartons, but many softdrinks are sold almost exclusively in PET bottles.

As for sugar, there is only cane sugar in stuff here, so I have no idea how this corn syrup even tastes. I found it in some of my Japanese sauces, but without a sample with cane sugar, I cannot say anything about the taste...

[His Divine Shadow]

Personally I've been longing to find the 1.5 liter glass bottle again in stores. Oh sweet glass bottles I miss you so. Atleast beer still comes in glass bottles (although I've seen a few try to push plastic bottle beer on you, I have half a mind to boycot the whole company for that).

[Broomstick]

Honestly, I can't say I can tell the difference between drinks with corn syrup and drinks with real sugar - except that the corn syrup ones seem to be TOO sweet but I think that's the quantity of sugars rather than the type. Maybe I'm just unsophisticated or my taste buds have gone senile with age.

I do agree that drinks from glass bottles are better than from plastic.

When purchasing sugar for home use I go for the beet sugar - because beet sugar is not only grown in the US, but most of that sold in my area is actually relatively local in origin so there's a social consciousness aspect to it - not that I would refuse cane sugar if that was the only offering, or if it was given to me, just that one is moderately preferable for reasons having nothing to do with taste (I can't tell beet from cane sugar, either).

[Darth Wong]

In relation to getting away from plastic bottles but also avoiding a return to glass, has anyone actually come across Coca Cola in aluminum bottles? I remember there being a few designs and they were supposed to be based on the classic coke bottle shape but I have not run across any myself.

I don't know why anyone would make an aluminum bottle when they could make an aluminum can. An aluminum bottle would be a pain in the ass to manufacture; you would need to deep draw the blank and then crimp in the top, in order to create the bottleneck shape. It would be considerably more difficult to make than a can, thus begging the question of why it's worth it. Can-making machines can pound out millions of units per day with ease.

The little bit I've looked around on the internet I get the impression that the "bottlecan" is something that might be marketed as an improvement or replacement for plastic bottles for products other than just coke. Certainly a better job is done recycling aluminum than plastic in the US and the companies making aluminum bottles claim products taste better and hold their chill in aluminum better than they do in plastic.

I'm sure the companies selling this product are going to make a lot of positive claims. But aluminum has a higher thermal conductivity than plastic, not lower. You can actually FEEL this, by simply touching the can (given an aluminum can and a plastic bottle at the same temperature, the aluminum can will feel much colder because its higher thermal conductivity allows greater heating of the can by your hand). There is no reason why it should be a better insulator than plastic.

You might also want to keep in mind that they actually coat the inside of aluminum cans with something; the soda doesn't touch naked aluminum. I'm not familiar with the exact nature of the coating, however.

[Broomstick]

Originally, the interior of metals cans (of all sorts) were coated with an enamel of some sort - these days I don't know, but an epoxy or plastic is more likely to be the case. There may even be a variety of coatings to choose from.