Makers of Sodas Try a New Pitch: They’re Healthy

By ANDREW MARTIN
NY Times

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.

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. 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 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.

Tava, the new drink, will be lightly carbonated and offer exotic flavors. It will contain vitamins B3, B6 and E, and chromium. 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.”

Steve - I know that most of you who read this blog do not buy the hype on these products. A few amazing comments in this article must be commented on.

1. Coke's CEO crying foul about how soft drinks are being singled out on the obesity debate: for shame. Their products have been poisoning us for decades. We really feel for you Mr. Isdell. The fact that he wants his no calorie soft drinks to be considered healthy is laughable: "fat" chance Mr. Isdell. I am hoping that the public has become savvy enough that it can see through the marketing and understand that an artificial product, even with added vitamins and minerals, is not healthy.
   
   
2. Shame on Michael Jacobson. His organization, CSPI, has done so much for consumers over the years. However, if this article is quoting him correctly, he made an error supporting no calorie beverages. Dietary experts can tell you that consuming "no calorie" artificial beverages, such as the aforementioned, can put on pounds. Toxins that cannot be excreted from the body settle in adipose (fatty) tissue. The more toxins you ingest, the more fatty tissue must be created.
   
   
3. The soft drink companies have been searching for that natural, no calorie, "holy grail" sweetener. It already exists. It is called stevia.