Diet Soda is now adding "Vitamins and Minerals"

[ChristianBBer]

Taken from The New York times,


Off-Subject :
While many claim diet soda is not a "healthy" addition to ones diet, you need to realize dieting and eating healthy is a life long process.

If you can go your whole life withuot soda or diet soda, good for you. ! But the million like you and me, who have been eating healthy for 3-4 years, diet soda is not the devil on Moderation. It keeps you sane, teaches disciplnie.

Makers of Sodas Try a New Pitch: They're Healthy
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By ANDREW MARTIN
Published: March 7, 2007
Healthy soda?

That may strike some as an oxymoron. But for Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, it's a marketing opportunity.

In coming months, both companies will introduce new carbonated drinks that are fortified with vitamins and minerals: Diet Coke Plus and Tava, which is PepsiCo's new offering.

They will be promoted as ''sparkling beverages.'' The companies are not calling them soft drinks because people are turning away from traditional soda, which has been hurt in part by publicity about its link to obesity.

While the soda business remains a $68 billion industry in the United States, consumers are increasingly reaching for bottled water, sparkling juices and green tea drinks. In 2005, the amount of soda sold in this country dropped for the first time in recent history. Even the diet soda business has slowed.

Coca-Cola's chief executive, E. Neville Isdell, clearly frustrated that his industry has been singled out in the obesity debate, insisted at a recent conference that his diet products should be included in the health and wellness category because, with few or no calories, they are a logical answer to expanding waistlines.

''Diet and light brands are actually health and wellness brands,'' Mr. Isdell said. He asserted that Diet Coke Plus was a way to broaden the category to attract new consumers.

Tom Pirko, president of Bevmark, a food and beverage consulting firm, said it was ''a joke'' to market artificially sweetened soft drinks as healthy, even if they were fortified with vitamins and minerals. Research by his firm and others shows that consumers think of diet soft drinks as ''the antithesis of healthy,'' he said.

These consumers ''comment on putting something synthetic and not natural into their bodies when they consume diet colas,'' Mr. Pirko said. ''And in the midst of a health and welfare boom, that ain't good.''

The idea of healthy soda is not entirely new. In 2004, Cadbury Schweppes caused a stir when it unveiled 7Up Plus, a low-calorie soda fortified with vitamins and minerals.

Last year, Cadbury tried to extend the healthy halo over its regular 7Up brand by labeling it ''100 percent natural.'' But the company changed the label to ''100 percent natural flavor'' after complaints from a nutrition group that a product containing high-fructose corn syrup should not be considered natural, and 7Up Plus has floundered.

The new fortified soft drinks earned grudging approval from Michael F. Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group and frequent critic of regular soft drinks, which it has labeled ''liquid candy.''

''These beverages are certainly a lot better than a regular soft drink,'' he said. But he was quick to add that consumers were better off getting their nutrients from natural foods, rather than fortified soft drinks.

A survey by Morgan Stanley found that only 10 percent of consumers interviewed in 2006 considered diet colas a healthy choice, compared with 14 percent in 2003. Furthermore, 30 percent of the consumers who were interviewed last year said that they were reluctant to drink beverages with artificial sweeteners, up from 21 percent in 2004.

Even so, several industry analysts said soft drink makers were smart to experiment with new types of carbonated diet soft drinks to stimulate sales. Besides the vitamin-fortified diet sodas, PepsiCo is introducing Diet Pepsi Max, with increased caffeine and ginseng, and Coca-Cola has started a new marketing campaign for Coke Zero, emphasizing how closely it tastes to Coke Classic.

''Just to ignore it is not the answer,'' said Lauren Torres, an analyst at HSBC. ''You want to grow what you have going for you. That's an effort that they have to make.''

John Sicher, publisher of Beverage Digest, an industry newsletter, said it made sense for soft drink companies to ''tiptoe'' toward health and wellness, given consumer interest in low-calorie drinks and so-called functional beverages, which are supposed to deliver some health benefit beyond any basic nutritional value, like orange juice with added calcium

[Justin_itm]

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=2346851

[Kate~]

yep..had one today!

[slaydox]

Originally Posted by Justin_itm

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=2346851

[heyzeus909]

Sound like they're trying to polish a turd.

[TheNewestGuy]

Originally Posted by heyzeus909

Sound like they're trying to polish a turd.

Precisely.

A highly-acidic drink that is either sugary or full of chemicals and dyes. What kind of "healthy" drink rots your teeth and bloats your stomach?

[Oddball8945]

Originally Posted by TheNewestGuy

Precisely.

A highly-acidic drink that is either sugary or full of chemicals and dyes. What kind of "healthy" drink rots your teeth and bloats your stomach?

pure fruit juices

[sportyhp]

i just feel like its a way for them to get some more $ for the diet soda.......im not saying i dont drink diet soda but id rather just buy the cheaper kind lol, i get enough vitamins and stuff in my food

[TheNewestGuy]

Originally Posted by Oddball8945

pure fruit juices

What? No.

[Chad Ludwig]

Am I the only one that doesn't drink soda, ever?

[Justin_itm]

Originally Posted by Chad Ludwig

Am I the only one that doesn't drink soda, ever?

Im with you on that... Soda is ghey. Its all about TEA!

[JL4LucidDream]

When i first heard about this and saw coke plus at the store i thought it was completly retarded, but now i have changed my views on this. I drink about 3 diet sodas a day to keep my taste buds satisfied, why not have them be somewhat beneficial with some vitamins in it?

[hobbes1651]

I dont know about what you guys have found but seems like the people who drink pop are always drinking pop. They drink alot of it. Then there are people who never drink it. Doesnt seem like there is much of a middle ground when it comes to drinking or not drinking it. I think that makes sense.