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What’s the Difference Between Diet Coke and Coke Zero?

26 Replies

Have you ever wondered why Coca Cola has 2 diet colas that are almost identical out on the market?

The answer is market segmentation.

Ever since Diet Coke was introduced in 1984, it has been a girl brand, creating a strong sense of identity for women trying to stay thin. But what about the guys? Realizing that men want to drink sugar free cola as well, The Coca Cola Company introduce Coke Zero in 2006. Since it had to taste different than it’s sister brand, the chemical wizards at Coca Cola company tinkered around with the formula to come up with a slightly different product.

Here’s what they did…

What you need to know:

According to the company:
Coca-Cola Zero provides real Coca-Cola taste for variety-seeking consumers. Coca-Cola Zero is sweetened with a blend of low-calorie sweeteners, while Diet Coke is sweetened with aspartame.

There you have it. The guys get poisoned by 2 artificial sweeteners, not just one that the ladies ingest.

Acesulfame Potassium is often used in conjunction with aspartame to deliver a slightly more sugary flavor compared to aspartame alone. Both are suspected carcinogens, with Acesulfame K having more negative studies attributed to it than any other artificial sweetener that is still legal to use. (In the past we were assured that cyclamate was safe too!)

Here are the ingredient lists of the two products side by side

 

Yes, people drink this list of chemicals. And enjoy it too.

What to do at the supermarket:

Ideally, you’ll switch to water. If not, carbonated water. If not, watered down juice. If not … some form of carbonated beverage without all these chemicals.

If you are giving your kids a Coke, better a coke with calories from sugar than aspartame and acesulfame potassium. Just do it rarely as a treat, not as a daily hydration solution.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1428895310 Mavourneen Strozewski

    Kids shouldn’t even be drinking soda. It’s horrid for their tiny sensitive teeth and not healthy for their growing stomach. All of the major label companies are a joke anyway. They play people like they are a pawn on a chess set and people don’t even realize what they are drinking. I used to drink both Dr. Pepper and CoCa Cola..now I drink neither and when I do have a sip, they taste like Cigarettes!!

  • Cartoonguy_99

    I drank one this morning and it was deeeelicious. Don’t like the Zero stuff though. It has the weird coke aftertaste that isn’t quite right.

  • ShadowMan

    All these chemicals in one drink, and this article happily skirts around the scariest one. Coke also contains dihydrogen monoxide, a chemical found in excised tumours of terminal cancer patients. Stay away!

    • Guest

      It clearly says “Carbonated water” at the top of the list.

    • Anonymous

      Oh dear god! They’ve found DHMO in tumors?  Isn’t it enough that it’s in the rain?  And used to cool nuclear reactors?  This is horrible; how can you hide from this stuff?!?

  • Kristy

    Gum has a lot of sweetener chemicals in it to.  So much so, that I gave up my gum chewing habit.  Yet, I miss it.  Even varieties that are not “sugar free” contain additional sweeteners.  Is it too little to matter?  Are there any better “gum” choices?

    • Graceread

      I would love to know the answer to this also. Does anyone have any info?

    • Anonymous

      You can chew a palmful of wheat kernels; it’ll be hard at first but keep at it.  It will become wheat-flavored gum, but only lasts for a few minutes.  It’s bland, but at least it’s good for you, unless you’re gluten intolerant, in which case you should avoid this trick.

    • Anonymous

      You can chew a palmful of wheat kernels; it’ll be hard at first but keep at it.  It will become wheat-flavored gum, but only lasts for a few minutes.  It’s bland, but at least it’s good for you, unless you’re gluten intolerant, in which case you should avoid this trick.

  • Jim Cooper

    And it turned out that it was a false scare. Cyclamates are safe, just demonized.  Although the FDA has stated that a review of all available evidence does not implicate cyclamate as a carcinogen in mice or rats, cyclamate remains banned from food products in the United States. And it is clear that aspartame is safe as well. Similarly acesulfame K is safe unless you drink thousands of cans of soda a day.

  • Pre-med Chem Student

    You call them chemicals, but in reality all these “chemicals” are compounds, these compounds are made of elements, and of these elements (OMG SHOCKER!!!) 94 are NATURALLY occurring, 10 form from decayed elements, and only 94 are synthesized. The ones that are synthesized only exist in nuclear reactors or particle accelerators, get your facts straight people, open a chemistry book. 

    • Mr. Bill

      So are you saying you would put any naturally occuring element in your food? How about some mercury? Maybe some thallium? Yum yum!!!

      In fact, there are very few elements that I would put into my body in their basic state. Carbon, some of the metals maybe. Many of the gases we breather are in pairs. Alone they would be harmful too.

      Save this arguement for the mother of the lead poisoning case once you are a doctor. See how that goes over. The “Everything is natural” way of thinking is flaud and useless when talking about human exposure. This will likely become clear once you are an actual doctor.

      • Dbible55

        Last I checked, asphalt chemically qualifies as “natural.”

  • http://shannonsdiet.com Shannonsdiet.com

    I like to drink club soda mixed with a little sugar free juice concentrate, or a squeeze of lemon.  This way, you sitll get a fizzy drink but with much more variety.

  • Nando

    ok, here is the problem with most health food advice…  people do not care about the chemicals as long as it tastes good.  and if water, or carbonated water, or watered down juice tasted as good, then we would not have a problem.  so the thing is, what is a person willing to risk or give up?  do i give up tasty diet coke and spend alifetime of tasteless water?  or drink regular coke with regular sugar and get fat?  either way, if it’s the chemicals you are worried about, there is still NO single, reputable study that absolutetly directly links aspartame to cancer…  unless you are quoting some obscure study that speculates that it may cause cancer.  now, do i think all these chemicals are safe?  of course NOT.  but neither is using a cell phone, microwave, chemicals in shampoos, lotions, or just about everything else that we eat, breather, touch, etc.  so please please give us some realistic advise for the rest of us who cannot afford organic food.

    • FrugalArugula

      Speak for yourself. Ugh. 

      Learn to farmer’s market. They’re cheaper than you think.

      • Guest

        In some places Farmer’s Markets end up being more expensive than their supermarket counterparts. The world is not black and white, and neither is it so easy to consume the “healthiest” goods at all times. The point Nando is making is a valid one: how much are you willing to give up and spend in order to eat a certain way? 

        It is an individual choice, and whether for good or bad people will make their own choices in spite of potential health outcomes. Just because you follow this blog does not mean that you will not die of some genetically inherited cancer or disease.

      • Mr. Bill

        Sorry, I must sound off again. Farmers markets are great… when they are around. Much of the US cannot support farmers markets years round becasue of cold winters. Even the spring is limited. In Minnesota things really don’t start showing up unitl July at best. This year everything was two weeks behind and we are having an early frost tonight that will shut down the growing season. So we have 2-3 months of any variety at the farmers market.

        • Dbible55

          Same here in NH. :(

    • Gerome

      Nando, cancer risk may not be the only concern with cola:
      Bone density:
      http://www.ajcn.org/content/84/4/936.full
      Adverse reactions:
      http://www.ajcn.org/content/43/3/464.abstract
      May change your tolerance to sweetness, making you want sweeter and higher calorie foods:
      http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-3010.2007.00604.x/abstract

      By the way, all of the citations are from very highly respected scientists.

      As far as your desire to have something tasty to drink, there are plenty of teas out there that could meet your standard… and if you really can only be satisfied with something that tastes sweet, be sure to read the third link above and have a mirror handy.
       

    • Ultra_ii

      personally i find that water is indeed not tasteless. you can poor aquafina or dasani in plain glasses and i can tell the difference. And neither one is as good as the water out of the tap in my house which comes from a nice deep well in my back yard. I do not care for aquafina at all especially if it is or has been warm. Dasani still taste fine even if at room temperature. Water comes out of my tap reasonably cold and if i use ice it taste far better then any soda other than maybe a&w out of the tap. Either way if your soda is a main cause of you getting “fat” your drinking too much! Both diet and regular soda’s have so many bad side effects they just are not worth drinking daily. Once in awhile as a treat is bout it.

    • Ultra_ii

      personally i find that water is indeed not tasteless. you can poor aquafina or dasani in plain glasses and i can tell the difference. And neither one is as good as the water out of the tap in my house which comes from a nice deep well in my back yard. I do not care for aquafina at all especially if it is or has been warm. Dasani still taste fine even if at room temperature. Water comes out of my tap reasonably cold and if i use ice it taste far better then any soda other than maybe a&w out of the tap. Either way if your soda is a main cause of you getting “fat” your drinking too much! Both diet and regular soda’s have so many bad side effects they just are not worth drinking daily. Once in awhile as a treat is bout it.

    • Overfishingisbad

      You loser, I’ll make this short because I’m studying for my Anth class. But damn you’re insane, you people are dehydrated because you lack water. FOOL!

    • Overfishingisbad

      You loser, I’ll make this short because I’m studying for my Anth class. But damn you’re insane, you people are dehydrated because you lack water. FOOL!

  • Mespadero56

    you are actually drinking cancer causing chemicals; in other words, poison…

  • Kathryn Abernethy

    I am a bit lost here.  chemicals are not all bad just as all “natural nor organics are good.  Give us more detail and fact and less hype.