soft drinks

Starting this month, Pepsi is rolling out a new drink called Pepsi Natural that's made with sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. The soda company is touting the drink's "all-natural ingredients," including natural caramel and kola nut extract; the glass bottles will even be stocked in natural foods aisles.

Despite the ads from the Corn Refiners Association trying to position HFCS as a "sweet surprise," the New York Times reports that more and more brands are using real sugar as a selling point. Other examples include Pizza's Hut's The Natural pizza, with a crust made with honey, and Healthy Choice All Natural frozen entrees. Both claim to be free of preservatives, but how do we really know what "all natural" means? (Not to mention, it makes me wonder how unnatural Pizza Hut and Pepsi's other products must be.) For my two cents, read more

"What would you like to drink?" "Anything." "Well, I have a lot of choices." "Whatever." In Singapore, this conversation probably goes on a lot. Why? Because they have two soft drinks available with the two words teenagers like to say the most (especially "whatever"). Whatever is a carbonated soda — you'll know that much going in — and Anything is some kind of tea. What flavors they'll be is a surprise. They're like the iPod Shuffle feature, only they're soft drinks. (If you're like me, though, I never like anything Shuffle gives me, which makes me wonder sometimes if it's really my iPod or if I'm just a control freak.)

Have you ever had a craving for a nice cold beverage, only to realize that the only option is room temperature and there's no more ice? If you answered yes, then you'll be interested to hear about a rumored technological advancement in the beverage world.

According to insiders, a new technology will do away with the need for ice, as once opened, the bottles will be chilled from the inside out. A new drink called Sprite Super Chilled could reach the United Kingdom by next year. They will only be available via special vending machines that regulate the temperature. If successful they could reach our shores in the near future.

I don't know about you guys, but I think this sounds a little bit sketchy, and yet totally fantastic at the same time.

Source: Mirror via Spluch
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Tons, and I mean tons, of people drink Diet Coke. The zero calories concept seems to sway a lot of people, I guess, but I prefer not to rot my teeth - it is the chemicals not the sugar that etch away at the enamel of your teeth.

It seems a little like a scam to me, people drinking this cola and thinking it is good for them since it contains no calories but I call it “chemical water.” Now Coca Cola has created - Diet Coke Plus.

Plus what, you may ask? They mix 15% of your Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for niacin, B6, B12, and 10% of your daily zinc and magnesium into every 8 oz serving of artificial sugar.

I should be happy, right, that Diet Coke is somehow trying to encourage its faithful drinkers to be a little healthier, but I am not buying it (literally too!). This is just another way for them to make money since vitamin water is so popular. And people are going to fall for it. They'll forget all about the artificial sugar and the caffeine, and think "Hmmm, that's neat. Now I can get my Diet Coke and my vitamins and minerals. Yay!"

Too bad drinking sodas regularly, like Diet Coke, are connected to low bone density mass. That means drinking soda 5 times a week can put you at a higher risk for developing osteoporosis, the brittle bone disease that approximately 55% of Americans are at risk of developing.

I have an idea. How about we ditch the soda and drink water instead. If you're eating a healthy diet full of lots of vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and whole grains, then I'm sure you're getting more than enough vitamins and minerals. You don't need help from Diet Coke Plus to get you there - it's doing more harm than good.

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As of January 1, 2007, Jones Soda (the Seattle based soda maker) will be selling 12-ounce canned sodas with pure cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. All their products, which include root beer and cream sodas, will be switched over by mid-2007. This comes after highly processed table sugars and high fructose corn syrups are getting a bad rep due to their complete lack in nutrional value and very high calorie count.

High fructose corn syrup, especially, has a bad rep as it can increase Type 2 diabetes and other epidemic diseases caused by obesity since the body has difficulty processing high fructose corn syrup at high levels.

I can't wait to try the Watermelon Soda with pure cane sugar! Yum.

A recent proposal to push for taxes on soft drinks was rejected on 11/14/06 by the American Medical Association. The initial proposal was an attempt to combat the obesity epidemic in the United States. Instead, the nation's most influential doctors' group voted in favor of a proposal for a broader-based effort to combat obesity, the Associated Press reported.

If you drink more cola than anything else, you're not alone.
Soft drinks currently account for 7 percent of the calories in the typical American diet, which makes them the leading source of calories.

For some tips on how to ease off the cola, read more