Soda doesn't contain fruit juice. Where'd you get that idea? Cola contains sugar which is good postworkout, supposedly.
i don't think he said fruit juice....he said fructose. That's correct, Soda does contain High Fructose Corn Syrup.
To answer the question, both you and your friend are right. It is indeed right to consume simple sugars Post-Workout, and, in a pinch, soda will do. Unlike sucrose, dextrose, and maltodextrin, fructose must be transported to the liver before it can be converted to glucose and subsequently used as glycogen to replace muscle stores of the very same. Your friend is right in that this process significantly impedes what the muscles can absorb from fructose, but more temporally than anything else. Fruit, for example (which as Bast observed) contains fructose yet is still often consumed first thing in the morning to "fill" the liver glycogen stores.
You really shouldn't drink soda, ever, even postworkout, because there are plenty of options that are just as cheap and more effective. But, if you just have GOT to have a soda, it'll be ok PW every now and again.
