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Science Forum Index » Medicine - Nutrition Forum » Makers of Sodas Try a New Pitch: They're Healthy [as USA sal
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| Rich Murray |
 Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:19 am |
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Makers of Sodas Try a New Pitch: They're Healthy [as USA sales fall
after 2004], Andrew Martin, The New York Times, Wednesday with 439
reader comments in 15 hours: Murray 2007.03.07
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1410
"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."
One liter aspartame diet soda, about 3 12-oz cans,
gives 61.5 mg methanol,
so if 30% is turned into formaldehyde, the formaldehyde
dose of 18.5 mg is 37 times the recent EPA limit of
0.5 mg per liter daily drinking water for a 10-kg child:
www.epa.gov/teach/chem_summ/Formaldehyde_summary.pdf
2007.01.05 [ does not discuss formaldehyde from methanol
or aspartame ]
http://www.epa.gov/teach/teachsurvey.html comments
teach@environmentalhealthconsulting.com
"Of course, everyone chooses, as a natural priority,
to actively find, quickly share, and positively act upon
the facts about healthy and safe food, drink, and
environment."
Rich Murray, MA Room For All rmforall@comcast.net
505-501-2298 1943 Otowi Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/messages
group with 78 members, 1,410 posts in a public, searchable archive
http://RMForAll.blogspot.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1340
aspartame groups and books: updated research review of
2004.07.16: Murray 2006.05.11
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1395
Aspartame Controversy, in Wikipedia democratic
encyclopedia, 72 references (including AspartameNM # 864
and 1173 by Murray), brief fair summary of much more
research: Murray 2007.01.01
Dark wines and liquors, as well as aspartame, provide
similar levels of methanol, above 120 mg daily, for
long-term heavy users, 2 L daily, about 6 cans.
Within hours, methanol is inevitably largely turned into
formaldehyde, and thence largely into formic acid -- the
major causes of the dreaded symptoms of "next morning"
hangover.
Fully 11% of aspartame is methanol -- 1,120 mg aspartame
in 2 L diet soda, almost six 12-oz cans, gives 123 mg
methanol (wood alcohol). If 30% of the methanol is turned
into formaldehyde, the amount of formaldehyde, 37 mg,
is 18.5 times the USA EPA limit for daily formaldehyde in
drinking water, 2.0 mg in 2 L average daily drinking water.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1286
methanol products (formaldehyde and formic acid) are main
cause of alcohol hangover symptoms [same as from similar
amounts of methanol, the 11% part of aspartame]:
YS Woo et al, 2005 Dec: Murray 2006.01.20
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1143
methanol (formaldehyde, formic acid) disposition:
Bouchard M et al, full plain text, 2001: substantial
sources are degradation of fruit pectins, liquors,
aspartame, smoke: Murray 2005.04.02
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/07/business/07soda.html?em&ex=1173416400&en=e37f7b32b0f885cb&ei=5087%0A
Makers of Sodas Try a New Pitch: They're Healthy
By Andrew Martin Published: March 7, 2007
Healthy soda?
Coca-Cola is scheduled to release Diet Coke Plus, while PepsiCo will
bring out a similar beverage, Tava.
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."
[ BEVMARK LLC P.O. Box 459 Santa Barbara, California 93102-0459 USA
805 569 9950 Phone 805 569 2982 Fax bevmarkllc@home.com
advisor to major international food and beverage companies on use of
visual and interactive technologies
2590 Avenida Caballo Santa Ynez, CA , 93460-9138
Products Description: Management consulting services ]
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.
Fortified sodas like the new Coke and Pepsi drinks will most likely
remain a niche, Mr. Sicher said. But he predicted sales of diet soft
drinks over all will increase in coming years with improved marketing,
better taste and new products.
He noted that Diet Dr Pepper, made by Cadbury Schweppes, has grown
quickly with a simple but effective marketing campaign that says it
tastes like regular Dr Pepper, but without the calories.
"Consumers like a product with good taste and no calories," he said.
Diet sodas "will begin rebounding with all the diet innovation we are
seeing and more marketing focus on diets."
The number of cases of soft drinks sold continued to slide last year
after its 2005 drop, said Mr. Sicher, who monitors industry sales
data.
Over all, diet soda accounted for 29.6 percent of carbonated soft
drink sales in 2005, up from 24.7 percent in 2000, Mr. Sicher said.
The efforts to turn around diet soda -- and soft drinks in general --
are particularly important for Coca-Cola, since, along with energy
drinks, they account for 81 percent of the company's revenue
worldwide.
By contrast, Pepsi has diversified more into other food and beverage
lines, including Frito-Lay, Quaker Oats and Gatorade. Soft drinks
account for 31 percent of revenue for PepsiCo beverages in North
America; Pepsi-Cola, however, remains by far the company's largest
brand worldwide.
Diet Coke Plus will be introduced this spring, and will cost the same
as regular Diet Coke.
Tava will be available to consumers this fall; PepsiCo officials say
they have not determined the price.
In discussing the sluggishness in diet soda sales, Dawn Hudson,
president and chief executive of Pepsi-Cola North America, noted that
over the last decade, consumers grew tired of drinking nothing but
colas like Coke and Pepsi and sought other beverages. She said the
diet category was more "cola-centric" and provided fewer alternatives
than regular soda.
But recently, she said, noncola diet drinks like Diet Mountain Dew and
Sierra Mist Free have done well.
Tava, the new drink, will be lightly carbonated and offer exotic
flavors, she said. It will contain vitamins B3, B6 and E, and
chromium.
"Lower-calorie beverages are clearly the growth area," she said.
Katie Bayne, senior vice president for Coca-Cola Brands at Coca-Cola
North America, said lackluster marketing and lack of innovation hurt
the diet category. But she too predicted that new products and clever
marketing would reinvigorate diet sales.
"In today's world, it's not about what we choose to sell, but what
consumers want," Ms. Bayne said. Diet Coke Plus -- which will contain
niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, magnesium and zinc -- "is right for a
certain group of consumers," she said.
While it is too soon to know whether consumers will buy the idea of a
vitamin-fortified diet soda, soft drink companies are trying to find
other ways to reposition their products as healthy.
For instance, all of the major soft drink companies are furiously
trying to develop a no-calorie natural sweetener to allay concerns
about artificial sweeteners.
"I think it is the holy grail," said Ms. Hudson of Pepsi-Cola. "But
it has to taste great."
March 7, 2007, 1:32 am
Makers of Sodas Try a New Pitch: They're Healthy
Coca-Cola's chief executive 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.
But the 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.
Do you think soda can be healthy?
439 comments so far...
*
1.
March 7th,
2007
1:52 am
No.
- Posted by Don
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2.
March 7th,
2007
1:53 am
I stopped drinking Pepsi five times a day, two years ago. I
thought that I would have a problem with eliminating the drink after
abusing it for years.
I don't miss it, now. In fact, I drink cold green tea instead.
Maybe, five times a year, I may have a soda. But, with soda being a
major factor in developing diabetes II, I can live w/o it.
Because of my craziness, I have a 25 year old daughter that
craves the sodas every day, just like her cigarrettes. The sodas have
eaten away at her teeth. She now faces 32 caries, needing to be
filled.
Plus, two weeks ago, she had two teeth removed, due to
infection.
Can soda justify itself with the addition of vitamins? NOPE! I
would rather take my selection of zinc, magnesium, folic acid, multi-
vitamin, B's, Vit. C, cinnamon, cayenne fruit, luetin and Vit. E's on
my own!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Posted by Sue
*
3.
March 7th,
2007
1:56 am
Inventory control creates the opportunity for a market to offer
a hundred different choices where twenty years ago there were only a
dozen. The challenge is to introduce a product with an unknown
aftertaste due to the vitamins and minerals when the artificial
sweetener grows stale quickly. If just a batch moves too slowly then
the entire product line will die, and discounting means discounting
all Pepsi or Coke products simultaneously, a drastic move to push just
one niche offering.
- Posted by Ralph
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4.
March 7th,
2007
1:59 am
Soda is definitely not healthy and adding some nutritional
supplements to it will not make it healthy. Nutrition is complex and
good nutrition requires the complex mixture of vitamins, minerals and
phytochemicals found in real fruits and vegetables. Instead of
providing life enhancing nutrition, soda provides sugar that
contributes to America's fat problem and preservatives that probably
contribute to rising cancer rates. Or, soda can provide sweetening
chemicals that can hardly be considered healthy.
It's time for corporate America to be patriotic and sell
products that are actually good for people. Come on corporations, step
up to the plate and be good citizens for a change. Stop hyping
unhealthy sodas.
- Posted by Rebecca Hooover
*
5.
March 7th,
2007
2:05 am
no way . if people buy that pitch their really stupid.
- Posted by Dave Hamm
*
6.
March 7th,
2007
2:10 am
sugar is sure sweet and nice for taste but it is not needed by
the body devoid of exercise or hard physical work. To these people,
sodas cannot be accepted or promoted as healthy if obesity is the
enemy. Extra calories converted to fats in the body is the last thing,
a healthy body needs! Now with all the added extras, vitamins and
minerals,sodas can be more dangerous if one drinks too much. Remember
the toxicity limits for some of the vitamins, Vitamin A for instance.
Beware manufacturers, you may be sued later.
- Posted by Sibur, MD,MPH.
*
7.
March 7th,
2007
2:12 am
Diet coke can certainly be just as healthy as the millions of
obese Americans who partake. To catagorize artificial sugar water
under health and wellfare is indeed more than a joke. It is a symptom
of the ignorance of American's concerning a healthy diet.
- Posted by Erik Walenza-Slabe
*
8.
March 7th,
2007
2:16 am
Of course this is a joking. Nobody believes that soda is a
healthy drink, but If someone believes in this they could begin to
wait for Santa in the christmas.
- Posted by Rogerio Tavora
*
9.
March 7th,
2007
2:21 am
Impossible. Any way they market it, it will have"(still)
cornsyrup and all that other stuff. How can it be healty??
- Posted by Uchida
*
10.
March 7th,
2007
2:22 am
The day that "soda" is healthy, will be the day that soda
transforms into spritzer, or mineral water. You can add as many
vitamins and minerals to soda, but you will not counteract the
unhealthy preservatives, flavorings, and artificial sweetners. Diet
Coke, in fact, seems to be unhealthier than regular coke, since many
artificial sweeteners place people at risk for cancer.
So, even with Diet Coke Plus, or any other hyped up soda
product, the day it becomes healthier than something like orange juice
is the day that George W. Bush passes a geography test.
- Posted by Vedrana Durakovic
*
11.
March 7th,
2007
2:35 am
I don't know if soda can be healthy, but I say: "Pepsi, bring it
on." Heck, with the amount of diet Pepsi I purchase, perhaps I could
afford another Pepsi by saving on vitamin supplements...
something to think about. lol.
- Posted by Mary Morgan
*
12.
March 7th,
2007
2:37 am
No, soda will never really be very healthy. However, it can
certainly be made healthier by leaving out all of the unnecessary
preservatives, flavorings, and artificial sweeteners such as high-
fructose corn syrup.
In states near the Mexican border, an extremely popular item is
soda, such as Coca-Cola, made in Mexico with real sugar instead of
high-fructose corn syrup. People bring it back from trips to Mexico
and it is sold by specialty Mexican grocery stores. Fans of REAL Coke
from Mexico claim that it has a better taste than what is bottled in
the U.S. and sales have a reached the point that American bottlers are
bothered.
- Posted by John M.
*
13.
March 7th,
2007
2:38 am
Soda is something you drink for fun. Normal, non-diet sodas give
you a lot more sugar than most people imagine. Many people can drink a
soda every once in a while with no serious damage to their health, as
long as they're generally getting some exercise and not consuming too
many calories. Diet sodas may not damage your health, but there is
nothing in them your body needs that you couldn't get much more safely
from a glass of water.
No one should be deluding themselves that drinking soda is as
healthy as eating fruits and vegetables. Injecting foods devoid of
health benefits with a few vitamins and minerals is conscious effort
to fool people, in a country with a desperate need for good
information about nutrition.
- Posted by Jim Donovan
*
14.
March 7th,
2007
2:42 am
YES SODA CAN BE HEALTHY IF YOU TAKE OUT ALL THE SUGAR,ALL THE
CHEMICALS AND PRESERVATIVES AND YOU ARE LEFT WITH WATER THAN YOUR
CHANCES ARE HIGH THAT YOU HAVE A HEALTHY PRODUCT.
THE KEY TO THIS QUESTION IS NOT IF SODAS ARE HEALTHY OR NOT BUT
TO CONSUME IT IN MODERATION ONE OR TWO SODAS A WEEK WHICH WILL THAN,
MAKE THE ABOVE DILEMA IRRELEVANT.
- Posted by LEONIDAS
*
15.
March 7th,
2007
2:47 am
it s a joke -all soda s are cancerious and gas in them is
causing tissue cancers...
- Posted by baris Gokahmetoglu
*
16.
March 7th,
2007
2:50 am
The only healthy beverage people should be drinking is WATER. No
other beverage is needed to satisfy needs for fluid of people who are
on a healthy diet(I'm not talking about people who are dehydrated and
need oral rehydration).
Artificially sweetened drinks reinforce the desire for sweets in
general, make people more thirsty and have no redeeming qualities
whatsoever (regular non-diet sodas also have no redeeming qualities on
a normal diet - though a little coke can be helpful for someone who is
nauseated!).
This is a disgusting effort by Coca Cola's chief executive and
should be completely rejected.
Kids at school should be offered WATER only as a beverage to
quench thirst. MILK is a food and can be offered as such.
- Posted by EM
*
17.
March 7th,
2007
2:54 am
The only healthy water is regular mineral water or untreated
water from mountain springs
- Posted by Walter Schaerlig
*
18.
March 7th,
2007
2:55 am
Sodas are "enjoyment" drinks, full of sugar or sugar
substitutes. I myself like a cola at the end of the afternoon as a
pick me up if I know I want to be awake later that evening. Shows I've
just turned 50. But, fortified with vitamins or not sodas in a healthy
lifestyle should be drunk only occassionally. Studies have suggested
that children in particular who start drinking diet sodas are priming
their bodies to crave sweet things. Adding vitamins sounds like false
marketing to suggest drinking soda could be part of a healthy
lifestyle. Try water!
- Posted by J. Foyer
*
19.
March 7th,
2007
3:01 am
ohh suuure ,whats next? vitaminized hamburguers and diet frnch
fries,come on lets be serious!!
- Posted by javier
*
20.
March 7th,
2007
3:03 am
Yes, or maybee should they take out the color, the gas, the
taste, the freshness, the shape of the bottle, the design and the
name.
- Posted by henri25
*
21.
March 7th,
2007
3:05 am
Yes! Take out 65% the sugar and replace it with carbonated fruit
juice.
- Posted by RR
*
22.
March 7th,
2007
3:09 am
Well, if the definition of a health and wellness category food
were that it didn't harm a person, then we could add chunks of
flavored sawdust to the category too. I think that was done, back in
the old days, before Sinclair Lewis wrote "The Jungle". I think the
chunks of sawdust were sold as "sausage" and after all, though they
had saturated fats to flavor them, they didn't have all that nasty
protein to harm people's kidneys. And, since they were boiled, they
weren't going to give people food poisoning.
I don't have bad feelings about sodas, sugared or sugarless. But
the lack of an evil quality is not the same as possesion of a good
quality. Now, one could argue that a simple sugared cola does have a
use. It makes a good digestive. What in the old days was considered a
"carminative" quality.
Sodas can cause a person to waste calcium since it takes some
calcium to get rid of the phophorus (see phosphoric acid in the
ingredient list). And if a person were to drink lots of soda then they
would be getting lots of "empty" calories or some weird sugar
substitute. (I only drink sugared sodas.)
About the idea of adding vitamins and such to sodas. Well, if
they aren't poisoning people, I can't see why not. There are plenty of
new, fashionable soft drinks that are promoting themselves as being
"healthy". And they aren't any more healthy than the old fashioned
sodas. So, why not. They are still only soft drinks. Drinks to enjoy,
without much food value.
I grew up in a generation where most candies in the U.S. were
flavored with vitamin C. It was a good choice. Much better than most
of the synthetic flavors available then. Perhaps that's why my
generation grew up so healthy. There were probably a lot of parents
who never thought to buy their children a vitamin pill. But, when
terribly nagged, they would give in and buy their kid that incredibly
delicious (and rich in vitamin c) lollipop.
- Posted by Jackie Aldridge
*
23.
March 7th,
2007
3:12 am
NEVER....
next they'll be selling us cigarettes with vitamin D and
echinacea...
- Posted by luke
*
24.
March 7th,
2007
3:15 am
No, soda will never be healthy. If it were made to be healthy it
would no longer be soda! (no sugar, artificial sweeteners or
caffeine?) I think it would have to be named carbonated water with
flavoring and vitamins! Try some all natural juice mixed with seltzer
water if you want something healthy and refreshing.
- Posted by Robbie Cook
*
25.
March 7th,
2007
3:19 am
i think soda is already healthy. sugar for energy and good old
H2O. the bubbles tickle a bit though. Soda with vitamins? couldnt
hurt. As a way to get back business from the juice companies it might
help. matbe mcdonalds can take this opportunity to enter the market
with McCola...an enriched drink...Or Gcola from google.what about vitami
companies entering the cola market? It works both ways...centrumcola?
oneaday cola? Lalanecola?
- Posted by steve canarsie
*
26.
March 7th,
2007
3:46 am
sodas seems to open way to overweight and as such should not be
given to any young kid.
A fresh fruit squash is by far better.
But to switch to that practice is nearly a kind of civilization
change, in the USA
- Posted by Samuel Bliman
*
27.
March 7th,
2007
3:48 am
I know all kinds of germs and toxic chemicals (some of them are
still to be tested in the laboratory.) are on the minds of Americans.
That is too much in my opinion. I am a ruralist from China. We eat raw
vegetables, drink water pumped from the well. And many of my
predecessors are very long_lived. We use soda to make steamed bread
_our main food. Now I have been living on that for 18 years and I am
healthy.
Sometimes it makes me laugh when I see the media warns us of the
potential dangers in newly decorated houses , plastic folks and bowls,
radiating rays of mobile phones and so on. Though people may be smart
enough to avoid all these health _ killing materials, they don't give
a damn about the much worse health-killers such as high saturated
food, high-tension work, too noisy neighbour, cigar and alcohol
addiction, too little exercise. All these kill more people than the
alleged toxic chemicals.
Maybe I am a little aggressive. Trust me. I do not mean to be
impolite. Perhaps that is due to the cultural difference.
- Posted by Richard
*
28.
March 7th,
2007
3:50 am
No it's not healthy. The acid ruins your teeth.
- Posted by Jennifer Becker
*
29.
March 7th,
2007
3:54 am
I think they should fortify their products with fluoride, to
counteract their products' corrosive action on tooth enamel.
- Posted by luap silopek
*
30.
March 7th,
2007
4:10 am
Only beverage healthy is self prepared lemon water; every
beverage else including cola/soda is anti-health.
- Posted by KAMAL KISHORE WADHWA
*
31.
March 7th,
2007
4:13 am
I think that the soft-drink industry is only concerned with
profit. There is no such thing as a healthy softdrink, whetherit has
zero calories, or a hundred.The acidity affects peoples teeth and the
cafeine makes people hyper and prone to all kinds of mysterious
deseases. The alternative to sofdrinks diet or otherwise is water, tap
or bottled. period.
- Posted by Tallia
*
32.
March 7th,
2007
4:30 am
Hi, i think that nowadays nearly everything is under the
pressure of the big firms and its economical power, so probably we´ll
see the Coca-cola soft drinks tagged as healty.. but in my opinion,
clearly it´s not. It´s just a way to mask a product in order to sell
more of it. Maybe, they should use "not unhealthy", i´ll be agree with
this term.
- Posted by Fran
*
33.
March 7th,
2007
4:31 am
Water is healthy. The rest is just business.
- Posted by Paolo
*
34.
March 7th,
2007
4:32 am
No, I think it is not healthy becuae i suppose that soda is come
kind of salt, or sodium bicarbonate thats use can be harful for High
Blood Pressure patients.
- Posted by Shairyar Khan
*
35.
March 7th,
2007
4:47 am
If soda containing vitamins and minerals can be labelled
"healthy," why don't we go ahead an put vitamins and minerals in
cigarettes and start calling them healthy?
To me, the underlying logic is the same...
Suzie Leikam, Regensburg, Germany
- Posted by Suzie Leikam
*
36.
March 7th,
2007
4:55 am
Yes, Soda can be healthy.
The ingredients of Soda are Water,Carbon dioxide gas,Artificial
sweetners ( Sugar ) & certain salts.
Water, CO2 , Salts account for 85 - 90% of ingridents & are
healthy for the human body. If the artifical sweetners can be made
healthier through reduction in Calories & carbohydrates, then Soda can
be healthy.
But a caution here that Excess of everything is Bad & it holds
true for a fresh fruit juice as well.
So it is our consumption habits that are unhealthy & lets not
blame the Soda which refreshes & quenches the thirst of millions of
people daily.
- Posted by Paramjeet Bhatia
*
37.
March 7th,
2007
5:04 am
The question is not is this beverage healthy, but will people
buy it? Many will, because the added vitamins will make them feel less
guilty. I will not.
- Posted by jph
*
38.
March 7th,
2007
5:09 am
Healthy? No. Is water simply no longer acceptable?
- Posted by Peter
*
39.
March 7th,
2007
5:18 am
No. Not as long as it contains ingredients like high fructose
corn syrup. Call me skeptical, but my dark side has this feeling the
agriculture/food industry is driven by Wall Street "growth" hormones.
As such, the focus of their effort is continued growth and increase in
the rate of growth.
Living in Greece and Italy for 2-1/2 years it's startling to
come back to the US and see the larger as in "Big Gulp" cups, coffee
cups, restaurant plates (piled high and deep) and many other forms of
"growth".
Equally striking is the size of waistlines -occasionally one
sees whole families equally out of proportion height-weight ratio.
On the other hand, the "soft drink" companies are starting to
feel the enlightment of informed consumer/buyers, many of whom are
ignoring the long brimming shelves of flavored water in favor of more
natural, healthy, simple stuff. Like drinks with pure cane sugar
instead of high fructose corn syrup and apple or tomato juice "NOT
- Posted by Fred Huffman
*
40.
March 7th,
2007
5:36 am
No way. Soda is, a priori, an unhealthy drink, considering that
it provides a completely unnatural hit of complex sugars or sugar-
substitutes, carbonic acid, preservatives, and artificial flavors. For
Coke or Pepsi to "fortify" their beverages with "vitamins and
minerals" is just like Lucky Charms being fortified with these
additives. As a recent NYTimes article suggested, vitamins and
minerals are most effective and beneficial in their natural, complex
form, such as an orange or a tomato, not when they are extracted and
used to fortify manufactured products. Drinking a Pepsi with Vitamin C
is like eating low-fat Cool Whip: still not healthy. These companies
know the American way better than anyone: to have our cake and eat it
too.
- Posted by Chris Forster-Smith
*
41.
March 7th,
2007
5:39 am
NO! Soda is not food and should be taken, enjoyed, used as an
occasional treat no matter how many vitamis, etc. are added.
- Posted by Tamar Smith
*
42.
March 7th,
2007
5:41 am
The American Public should understand that unless they don't
educate themselves about the dangers of artificially-flavored soda,
fast food, and smoking, they owe it to themselves not to stop
consuming these products. The truth is out there, on the internet and
in books and publications. Set yourself free with some facts instead
of listening to some 'modified' facts presented by a greedy CEO
- Posted by Nizar Rihani
*
43.
March 7th,
2007
5:46 am
Now that they have added vitamins to soda, people won't become
obese and diabetic from all the high fructose corn syrup they consume.
Soda with aspertame is even healthier. I think it is obvious that
these corporations really care about their consumers and I applaud
their efforts, as well as all the health-conscious individuals who
refuse to settle for anything less than a functional beverage that
serves its purpose. Bravo.
- Posted by M in California
*
44.
March 7th,
2007
5:47 am
Maybe the same could be done for tobacco and scotch?
- Posted by john connolly
*
45.
March 7th,
2007
5:53 am
The CEO of Coca-Cola's incredulous train of thought is
embarassing. One expects this type of nonsensical rhetoric from
politicians, but so many top CEO's cannot get their fat little greedy
fingers on enough money. This guy sounds like a flippin' idiot.
Dear Mr. CEO of Coca-Cola,
Reality Check: Only a snake oil saleman would suggest that high-
sodium diet pop is healthy. I wonder which of the basic food groups
you are suggesting that diet pop belongs to? Get a grip, Dick Tracy.
- Posted by Susan Bynum
*
46.
March 7th,
2007
5:59 am
It is just one more example that the American public has no idea
of what is good for them and the soda industry is taking advantage of
that fact. Nutrition has become so clouded with misinformation that it
is hard for the general population to make healthy decisions. I see
this on a daily basis as a Family and Consumer Science Teacher.
- Posted by Peggy King
[ For 393 more comments, link to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aspartameNM/message/1410 ]
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