"diet soda" news and stories

When a few studies pointed the finger at low-cal or no-cal, high-intensity sweeteners as culprits for unsuccessful dieting, the world's Coke Zero fans let out a collective moan. Could our supersweet replacements actually be feeding our sugar frenzy? At The Daily Beast, Dr. Susan B. Roberts sorts it out, and hints that our Splenda days may not be numbered.

When most people choose a diet soda over a regular one, they are doing it for their waistline. In other words, they are only paying attention to the zero or low calorie number. Very rarely are they looking at the caffeine content.

If you are watching your caffeine intake, it's worth noting that most diet versions of their regular counterparts contain more caffeine. Though it's not the highest content among all diet drinks, Diet Coke has 30% more caffeine that regular Coke! To get an idea of how much of a difference there is, and to see how the diet sodas stack up against each other, Diet Blog has put together a list of the 10 Most Caffeinated Diet Drinks. Number one? Pepsi Max, with 69 mg of caffeine. As a reference point, 1 tsp of instant coffee powder has 57 mg of caffeine.

Of course, if you're "dieting," then you might actually appreciate that extra caffeine.

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For years, people have thought that diet soda was the way to go if you wanted to cut down on the sugar and calories that come with regular soda. Apparently, they are now finding that it might not be such a safe choice after all. Researchers have now determined that drinking one soda a day, whether it's diet or regular, is associated with a much higher rates of heart disease and diabetes.

They've associated regular, sugar-sweetened soda, with those health concerns for years, but this is the first study that finds that diet soda is also an indicator of future health issues. They don't think that it is the ingredients in the diet soda that lead to health problems, but that drinking soda (of any variety) is an indicator of other questionable eating patterns. Which just confirms what we've all known for years. You can not redeem a quarter pounder with cheese and large fries with the addition of a diet soda.

If you had asked me ten years ago whether I was a Diet Pepsi drinker or a Diet Coke drinker, I would have said Diet Pepsi without hesitation. I just liked Pepsi better (people who tell you that there isn't a difference between the two are either crazy or don't drink soda -- or maybe too much).

However, a few years ago, I noticed my local supermarket was always out of Diet Pepsi and I was forced to buy Diet Coke. Somehow, I got used to it and I've been drinking it exclusively now for a few years. But last month? I decided to buy Diet Pepsi again, and now I'm back to drinking that. Sorry to cheat on you, Diet Pepsi.

This is just a really tedious way to say Happy 25th Anniversary Diet Coke! It was unveiled on July 29, 1982 and is now the #1 diet beverage in the world.

(Oh, that headline. I think that was one of the slogans for Diet Coke in the '80s. Am I remembering that correctly?)

Coca-Cola is hoping that the UK release of Coke Zero, nicknamed "Bloke Coke" because it targets a young, male audience, will help reverse a decline in the sales of carbonated beverages in the country. When Coke Zero was launched in Australia with a similar marketing strategy, total sales skyrocketed 19% in only two months. Its marketing campaign, which included a fake blog and other tricks that were decried by media watchdogs, worked well and didn't seem to put consumers off, meaning that Coke actually has its strategy down well for selling Coke Zero.

Coke Zero is, if you haven't had it, a calorie-free soda that is meant to taste more like regular Coke and fill a gap in the marketplace left by Diet Coke, which some perceive as a girly product.

Speaking of girly vs non-girly, Coke Zero was released with black cans and labels in Australia, but white in the US. Which is it in the UK?

 

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