Both Diet Coke Plus and Pepsi's new Tava look an awful lot like soda pop.
They come in bottles bearing a soft drink logo. They're made with flavorings and carbonated water. Presumably, they explode if you shake the bottle before opening.
But the latest generation of soda pop -- err, excuse me -- sparkling beverages claim to be healthy, because they are fortified with vitamins and minerals.
According to the New York Times, the soft drink giants, Coca-Cola and Pepsico, are planning to launch new, "healthy" versions of their carbonated beverages.
It seems that the soft drink industry has been losing ground lately to the burgeoning market for bottled and flavored waters, juice drinks, bottled teas, and other options that are increasingly available at a grocery store near you.
Soda's reputation is apparently also taking a hit for contributing to our country's obesity epidemic. The fortified drinks, which are diet and artificially-sweetened, are meant to be a response to our country's growing waistlines.
Industry researchers, however, aren't sure their plan will work. In fact, it seems that most consumers think of diet soft drinks as the "anti-thesis of healthy." Hmm. Imagine that.
I doubt I'll ever be swayed by a "healthier" soda. After all, if I want a healthy beverage, I'll grab a some iced green tea or a bottle of water.
Meanwhile, I do happen to like a diet soft drink every so often. Now, I'm glad that I can grab a Diet Coke or Pepsi whenever the urge strikes. And that urge does strike fairly often -- in fact far more often than I'd like.
Interests: Living life as an intiatic experience, uniting with like minds and hearts to build a better, cleaner, more peaceful world, listening to the wisdom of the inner voice, communing with the elemental forces of Nature, the arts, media and communications, personal growth and development, the natural healing arts, interesting cuisines, cinema, all that expands the consciousness, betters the Self, and links me with THAT from Which I come.
Inspiration: Whitman, Thoreau, the Tao, deep meditation, spiritually anointed words carried on the human voice and the Cosmic Winds, being with those of like mind and calling.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, WHAT IS THE POINT IN ADDING VITAMINS AND MINERALS IF ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS ARE USED? NONE! JUST STICK TO GOOD OLD FASHIONED H2O/ORGANIC HERBAL TEAS/ AND ORGANIC FRUIT JUICES ETC!
AGAIN - SWEETENERS ARE NO GOOD AND EVEN WORSE THAN SUGAR. ANYTHING ARTIFICIAL IS NO GOOD BUT BESIDES THAT, SWEETENERS HAVE MEGA NEGATIVE EFFECTS.
FOR ALL TEH EVIDENCE YOU NEED JUST GO TO www.mercola.com and KEY 'ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS' INTO THE GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE AND YOU WILL FIND PAGES OF EVIDENCE INTO HOW WE ARE BEING LIED TO, WE ARE TOLD THAT SWEETENERS ARE NOT DETRIMENTAL TO HEALTH WHEN IN FACT IT IS THE OPPOSITE. AS WITH A LOT OF THINGS, IT IS A-NOTHER MONEY MAKING SCHEME EXPLOITING THE MASSES.THANKS FOR LISTENING
VIRGINIA
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The soda industry is trying to pull a quick one, and sadly it will work on many. I am sure that the link between phosphorus and calcium imbalances due to drinking sodas will not be addressed, along with the fact that our body does not recognize synthetic nutrients like the ones that will be added. Will it be the lesser of evils? Maybe. Either way it is a "non-food" that will take more energy from our body to process it than the benefit it brings. All the health practitioners out there have an important job to do: educate.
There seems to be growing evidence that our bodies can't process or absorb synthetic nutrients, which makes sodas with added vitamins useless to us.
A new study came out a couple weeks back that showed that vitamin supplements aren't really delivering on their promises.
Here's a link with more information: http://www.lime.com/blog/savasthi/8277/the_antioxidant_myth
Well, what can I say? This was to be expected and we should know the 'truth' behind fizzy drinks. Personally I do not buy or consume anything fizzy/Soda. Not in my diet or that of my family. Unfortunately the industry will aim for the people who don't know, are ignornat or 'trust' the logos and advertising. I am NOT one of them.
viola
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Diet soft drinks, sparkling beverages, or whatever you call them are *NOT* healthy. Artificial sweeteners are *NOT* healthy; in fact, I recently received a communication from a friend of mine who "kicked aspartame" (Diet Coke, of course) after years of consumption. She reports that after some pretty nasty withdrawal symptoms, she can report that her "brain fog" is clearing and, as a value-added bonus, her IBS type symptoms have entirely disappeared. How, in the name of all that is natural and real, can adding the equivalent of a vitamin pill to this nastiness going to make it "healthy"?
The sad part is that, in the US at least, most "sparkling beverages" contain either an artificial sweetener or HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) and neither ingredient is any good for anybody. (Props to Jones Soda, which is located in Seattle, near to where I live right now, for removing the nasty HFCS and replacing it with actual sugar.) In Canada, my home and native land, HFCS is not nearly as ubiquitous. The reality, though, is that the harmful stuff in these drinks cannot be mitigated by adding artificially derived supplements.
Carbonated beverages aren't good for us. Small amounts of them - and I will *not* purchase a 'diet' product of any sort under any circumstances - are enjoyable. But they aren't good in excess and adding a vitamin pill to them won't help. Add my vote to the "drink some water, or some unsweetened fruit juice or some tea or even a latte!" bunch. Big Gulps need to go the way of all things.
Blessings,
Magistra
The bottom line the soda industry is hurting, They are trying to dress up thier products by making them healthy. I for one gave up a long addiction to soda over five years ago. I have a occasionlly sip now and then. Personally can not stand the taste anymore. Give me my ice tea any day.
Woodstork/Brad
is ingenious -- and it's usually harder to spot than nutritional soda!
I know that I've grown a lot more careful about reading the labels before I just snap up something just because it claims to be healthy. Knowing that I'm probably being manipulated has made me much more cautious about what I buy.
vicki r posted further up the following 'Until the government decides to restructure labels and provide nutritional information, it is up to each of us to become better educated. '
it is sad to say, and to face facts, tha there is too much profit to be made, thats why they keep form us that artificial sweeteners are BAD BAD BAD, even for diabetics, yep even for diabetics! i doubt they will - unless someone HONEST is in power - retructure labels as they want the $$$$ and the £££££. they are in it for themselves, not caring about avergae joes health. they just pretend to care, whilst these drinks make us ill and PHARMA makes even more money... then the side effects of synthetic medicines need to be countered with more drugs....and so it goes on and on. for some reason people have forgotten that there is more important things than money. unfortunately it is true that money does make the world go round. really love for man kind and fellow humans should make the world go round
virginia
www.home-schooling-uk.com www.dare2baware.com www.shamanicjourney.com www.fun-travels.com