One of the earliest pioneers of the diet soda movement was the introduction of Tab in 1963 by the Coca-Cola Company. Tab used a relatively new artificial sweetener called saccharin and heavily focused on the lack of calories as a way to lose weight and despite numerous negative health studies related to saccharin, Tab was still wildly successful.
Diet Pepsi launched Coca-Cola then jumped on the diet positioning bandwagon and launched Diet Coke in 1982. In recent years, both Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi rely on an artificial sweetener called aspartame to create a zero calorie sugar free soda.
These aspartame sweetened sodas were made with chemically derived artificial sweeteners that had more and more negative studies about their long term health hazards but millions of these diet soda's are still sold each year. Many people are making a tradeoff in order to reduce calorie intake.
Rise of Sugar Free
Over the past decade, there has been a shift away from "diet" as it implies altering your habits and compromise. This negativity towards using the term diet led the major soda companies to start highlighting the sugar free aspect of these alternative sodas. We are also seeing much more negative media about sugar and especially high fructose corn syrup in the media due to numerous studies being published showing clear health issues caused by excessive sugar consumption. So soda's without sugar starting to point out the fact that they were indeed sugar free.
In more recent years, there has been a rise of "zero sugar" soft drinks. Both Coke and Pepsi used this trend to create a new formulation of soda.
PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE
PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE
CARBONATED WATER, CARAMEL COLOR, ASPARTAME, PHOSPHORIC ACID, POTASSIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVES FRESHNESS), CAFFEINE (35mg), CITRIC ACID, NATURAL FLAVOR, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM
PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE
CARBONATED WATER, CARAMEL COLOR, PHOSPHORIC ACID, ASPARTAME, POTASSIUM BENZOATE (PRESERVES FRESHNESS), CAFFEINE (69mg), NATURAL FLAVOR, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, CITRIC ACID, PANAX GINSENG ROOT EXTRACT, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (TO PROTECT FLAVOR)
PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE
Pepsi Zero Sugar already contained Ace-K but likely increased the amount of Ace-K in order to reduce Aspartame which is now lower on the ingredient list. Also added Panax Ginseng Root extrace and Calcium Disodium EDTA. Also worth noting is that a 12oz serving of Diet Pepsi has 35mg of caffeine while Pepsi Zero Sugar has 69 mg. That is quite a bit of caffeine for a standard soda and is even higher than Mountain Dew which contains 55mg.
One of the challenges for large soda companies is that millions of people become accustomed to a very specific taste of a beverage. So any slight change to the formulation has a risk of upsetting their core customers. So a way for the big beverage brands to address this is by introducing new formulations with slightly different brand names.
The "Zero Sugar" sub-brands are here to stay and tend to use more recent innovations and arguably improved tastes. Ultimately, there is no standard guideline to sugar labeling so terms like "sugar-free," "zero sugar" "no sugar" all mean that there is no added sugar on the ingredient label. "Diet" may mean no sugar but typically references no or low-calorie. If you are diabetic or following a keto diet and require zero grams of added sugar, the term "diet" is not adequate to determine sugar content although nearly every "diet" soda is also sugar-free.
If you are avoiding or reducing your sugar intake, just because something is labeled 'zero sugar" or "sugar free" doesn't automatically mean it is a healthy alternative. It's also important to understand what alternative sweetener is actually being used. Most of the major soda brands use inexpensive artificial sweeteners that have been proven to cause chronic health concerns.
As more people are educating themselves about some of these health issues, they are turning to healthier and natural alternatives. At Allusoda, we use a rare sugar called allulose as the main sweetener in addition to Monk Fruit. Our formulations do not contain added sugar and score a zero on a glycemic index. These natural sweeteners not only offer a substitute to sugar for sweetening but have positive health benefits such as prebiotics, anti-inflammation and anti-oxidant properties.
