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YOU MIGHT HAVE seen a new Coca-Cola drink on Irish shelves over the last few days, but what exactly is it?
Coca-Cola Life is the green-branded drink that has just launched all over Ireland, and it’s confusing some people out there as to what it is – and why it’s green (no, it’s not related to Ireland in any way).
Apart from the packaging, not really. According to the company, Coca-Cola Life is sweetened with a blend of sugar and stevia leaf extract (which is green) – and both are naturally sourced. However, it has faced criticism that its sugar levels are still very high.
Pope Francis / Twitter
Pope Francis / Twitter / Twitter
With its 89 calories Coca-Cola Life has a third fewer calories than the standard red Coke, and it also has less sugar. By all accounts it tastes very similar to the red Coke, but some connoisseurs will probably notice a difference in texture.
Given both Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero are calorie-free offerings, Life would appear to sit slightly away from those and closer to the original Coca-Cola in terms of its potential marketing.
Coca-Cola has committed to ”provide consumers with increased choice of reduced, low and no-calorie beverage options and also to reduce the average calories per litre in its range of sparkling drinks by 5% by the end of 2015.” This new drink would play into that aim, anyway.
Raymond Tobin / Twitter
Raymond Tobin / Twitter / Twitter
Stevia is a zero calorie sweetener derived from the leaves of the stevia plant – and it’s the unique selling point of this new drink.
Stevia extract has been approved by the European Union as an additive for food and drink, but there are concerns out there over the nature of sweeteners like it. The extract can be up to 300 times sweeter than sugar – and it’s already used in Sprite here, which is also owned by Coca-Cola.
Yes. Last year it was introduced to the UK and the US, and the year before that Chile and Argentina (where it was first created) had it on their shelves.
Daniel Gurney / Twitter
Daniel Gurney / Twitter / Twitter
Confusion reigns, but we hope this cleared some things up.
By David Elkin for DailyEdge.ie
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Why are companies expected to roll out “healthy alternatives”? Surely just having a bottle of water instead is the healthy alternative…
The joys of marketing… research suggests that diet versions of drinks are proportionality more chosen by overweight people. For both psychological and physiological reasons they are detrimental to a healthy diet.
Lol remember when Coke tried the water route.. they bottled safe Thames tap water and somehow managed to add unsafe levels of bromate, a cancer-causing chemical. All the bottles had to pulled. Guess its easier for them to manage the brown stuff.
Source:
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2004/mar/20/medicineandhealth.lifeandhealth
No, you see it’s companies like McDonald’s and coca cola who are responsible for people being morbidly obese, not the fault of the person who considers a supersize double quarter pounder meal to be a light snack. Personal responsibility for your choices is fast becoming a thing of the past, there’s always someone else to blame, and often sue, for your own crappy choices. I actually have a case pending against diageo for the emotional distress of my hangover last Saturday – planning a boozy holiday in Ibiza with my payout.
Conor 100 percent agree and sugary drinks rebranded as the healthy option is very much like the low fat foodstuff myth. People really need to be aware that when the healthy fats are taken out of foods and milk products they often get laced with sugars to improve or mask the taste.
The acid test for anyone that doesn’t believe me is hold say full fat milk and low fat milk side by side and read the calories which will be lower on the L.F Milk but significantly higher in the sugars bit. It’s all a sneaky marketing ploy that ruins people’s diets.
Egg Head your health via your lust for alcohol is your choice. You can’t blame anyone for the choices you make. Plenty do in America and get a wad of money from lawsuits but the onus is on you the person to filter the things that are good and bad.
What is sneaky is so called healthly foods like Special K advertising really fit and firm women that would probably never touch the product. Then it puts up the small print about as part of a balanced diet and exercise routine or something along those lines. Quite simply we are brainwashed into believing that cereals are good for us when in fact they are not. People don’t know this and eat a lot of them and serve them up to their kids unwittingly. Cereal companies are one of the reasons for the obesity timebomb not just Coke and it is their responsibility to reimburse obese people for the misinformation of their product that is labelled healthy.
It’s gas I know someone that pigs out on takeaway food, but gets a diet coke with it because “it” is on a diet.
Ask any kids, they will tell you
On the subject of drinks it is shocking how many very young kids are drinking caffine laced energy drinks at such a young age.
Anyone who has worked somewhere like Centra, CostCutter, Londis, Spar etc. can tell you that Conor is right.
You’ll have rounder individuals come up to you in the deli, ask for a brown roll or sandwich, no butter (and they make a big point about that) – all good so far – and then the filling comes and they ask you to layer on the cheese, coleslaw and potato salad. You’ll then meet them at the till with said heart-attack roll, with perhaps a Danish pastry as a sneaky treat. But they have a can of Diet Coke, so it’s okay.
I’m not being Skinny McThinny here looking down on overweight people. If someone is overwieght, and happy with how they look, that is amazing. But what gets to me is the fact that they are fooling themselves, and trying to fool others in the process, that they are trying to lose the weight.
Water is what people should be drinking! And if you want to lash out and have a treat, have red Coke, not the stuff that’s laden up with some nasty chemical developed in a lab..
Coke own river rock among other water.
Totally agree spiderman irish. People are STILL fooled by the low fat cereals are good for you myth. Grain and cereal consumption is detrimental to health.
Water is obviously the best choice during the daytime. Coffee and tea are good too. Whey protein shakes mixed with water if you want something sweet with no sugar.
However if you’re on a night out, coke zero and JD for example comes in at about 60 calories. Since it also has no sugar or macronutrients, it won’t destroy your body composition.
Compare that to a night of drinking pints of lager where each pint is about 260 calories and about 20grams or carbs. Easy to see how so many pack on a beer belly :s
Whey protein shakes are over used. Plenty of people take them thinking they’ll instantly get big , others take them without realising that they should change their diet and get the same results
Agreed that diet is the important factor of body composition. Also if you’re living a largely sedentary lifestyle, there would be no need for whey shakes.
However one a day mixed with water is a much better alternative than fizzy drinks.
I think most people know to build muscle or get toned, you need resistance training.
Spiderman you don’t understand basic thermodynamics. Low fat milk contains lower calories than full fat milk, thus being better for weight loss. Sugar or fat isn’t a factor, calories in vs. calories out.
Owen, fat is good Carbs are bad.
It’s unfortunate that in the 70s fat got a bad name.
Brian, carbs are a macronutrient, and in no way ‘bad’. Neither is fat.
What has whey got to do with this argument at all?
Brian, I’m amazed that you managed to simplify two macronutrients of which the vast majority of our natural foodstuffs are comprised along with protein to “good” and “bad”.
You really shouldn’t be amazed. I’m simply pointing out that the worlds obsession is with fat and thinking by buying fat free products they won’t get fat. Where as they should really look at the amount of carbs in the food. So yes fat is good carbs are bad.
What a general sweeping statement to make .. “carbs are bad for you”. Nonsense! Smoking is bad for you as has no significant health benefits. You can’t just lump carbs in the same category
They’re not expected to, but they’ll make more money if you buy a healthy alternative to coke than if you just have a glass of water.
I drink diet coke for the taste as I don’t like the red , and there is a lot of people who do as well . Diet is just so much nicer
Coca cola also own “deep river rock” water … Quite popular in Ireland
Owen, unfortunately it’s not as simple as calories in Vs calories out. There is increasing evidence pointing to the hormonal effect of the foodstuffs consumed, not just their calorie content, having a detrimental effect on weight.
With its 89 calories Coca-Cola 8+9 = 17
“Bruce Fitzgerald” in Ordinal = 157 Reduced = 1+5+7 = 13
“BlogSpot” = 106 Reduced = 1+0+6 = 7
“provide consumers with increased choice of reduced, low and no-calorie beverage options and also to reduce the average calories per litre in its range of sparkling drinks by 5% by the end of 2015″. = 1+6+9+6 = 22
“Green” = 13
Source: “TheGuardian” = 108 = 1+0+8 = 18 (6+6+6)
Wow
Conor, Deep River Rock water is owned by Coca Cola and is the top selling bottled water in Ireland.
When I first seen it I thought the shop assistant put the Carlsberg in the wrong place
Still muck
Not much good when yer one orders a super size pizza, a huge slice of cheese cake and a green coke.
Like a full irish breakfast with brown bread
No no, brown bread toast with real butter just tastes nicer than white. Its all opinion I suppose. I’m hungry now. Happy? You’ve me get out of my Sunday morning bed.
I want toasted brown bread now!
Brown bread is no better than white. Most of the time its just a dye in it.
Aspartame uses in diet coke canderel diet yoghurts etc., is banned in Australia as its proven to be carcinogen
Yup. Very dangerous stuff. A friend (who did food technology) used to plead with me to drink regular coke instead of diet, even with its huge amount to refined sugar it was safer than aspartame. Gave it up over a year ago. Mad thing is it was the taste I preferred with diet coke, not that it was sugar free.
Re Coke Life, not mad for the flavour of it ;)
Whereas sugar is perfectly healthy.
Ha, you’re gas man Neal :D
I’d love to see research backing up these claims, and not just links to dubious websites.
How about introducing vanilla coke zero and coke zero with cherry and coke zero with lime here!!
It is also called green coke because that will be the colour of your insides before they dissolve !
It’s like a prostitute in a different dress, bad for ya and addictive
Is it weird that I’m 18 and have never tried coke or any other fizzy drink? At this point its a challenge.
You’re not missing anything. Fizzy drinks are as pointless as smoking.
I work on a plane!
It’s always the overweight folk who ask for a diet coke!
When you give them the little mini can you are guaranteed to get a reply “you’d better give me two”!!!!
You know Yin and Yang – massive meal and diet coke with that to balance it out. Works like a charm try :)
We fat people can’t win. We try to start with small changes like switching to the “diet” version on planes, then the people who we’ve paid hundreds of euros to fly with go online and slag us!
Basically diet coke cancells all those calories and fats from massive greasy grub on the plate, no need to believe me just try it – works wonders
Pepsi all the way!!!!
How’s about enjoying a nice glass of coke every now and then, nothing wrong with a treat. Some people seem to think it’s OK to have coke or any other fizzy drink daily and not always over weight people either, many think people too. That’s not to say the thin people are healthier. I love a take out as much as the next person with a glass of coke but maybe once a month. People are educated enough now to make good choices.
All you have to do is check sugar content of many “health” foods along with fat content to see that are nowhere near healthy!
Willie Frazer will be calling Coca Cola to make a complaint.
He’s more of a fanta man
great research by the Journal. Coca Cola Life has been on sale here in Ireland since last year in ‘Fresh’ stores in Dublin.
THIS INFORMATION CHANGES EVERYTHING!
The headline is misleading,
Isn’t all Coca Cola a brownish colour???…
So I said.. Green m&m red m&m they all come out the same color in the end.
Wasn’t the original coke green? I know the top selling Peruvian cola is green. Inca Cola…..mmmmm…cocaine-y
Aspartame poisoning!
I tasted said product last year and it’s not that nice.
Although it is aspartame free i’d rather the real thing imo.
FYI. ..I got through my job.
You’d be better off drinking toilet water than the likes of fizzy sugar drinks!
‘Snot coke
Happy Paddy’s Day!!
A reduction of 5% calories is a great result for me. Now for every 20 cans I guzzle a day i get to guzzle one for free??! Skinny jeans, here I come
How about an organic cola made with natural mineral water
It still has the chemical 4-methylimidazole in it. It not good for you but every one knows that.
I use stevia on a daily basis and it rules however you won’t ever see me with a can of that crap
Should be called Coca Cola – Death. Cos that’s what your doing to your body drinking any of their crap!
Hubby’s drinking it and liking it. I stopped drinking coke about 18 mths ago, if I have a sup now makes my stomach hurt Hubby drinks a can a day so am happy its at least got less sugar.
I think it tastes worse.
A tin of red coke. Any league of Ireland fan will have heard that from one famous fan.
In my opinion a glass of low alcoholic beer is infinitely better for you than coke. It contains loads of good stuff like vitamins, complex carbs and minerals. A small amount of alcohol is actually beneficial if lowering stress levels. If you have ONE beer.
have your say