I thought it was strange when I first saw an ad for Diet Coke Plus. Drinking soda is known to rot your teeth and give you stomach aches (at least what my mom told me when I was growing up) but now, drinking this stuff doesn’t sound so bad. Or is it?
Diet Coke Plus is everything you love about Diet Coke, plus several essential nutrients. Each 8 fl. oz. serving of Diet Coke Plus provides 15% of your RDI (Reference Daily Intake) for niacin and vitamin B6 and B12 and 10% for zinc and magnesium.
Those percentages don’t sound very convincing to me. I rather take a multivitamin for my daily dose of essential minerals.
Recently, a new study has found that people who drink one or more soft drinks a day have a more than 50% risk of developing the heart disease precursor metabolic syndrome than people who drink one or less soft drinks a day. According to this article, Metabolic syndrome is a constellation of health problems — high waist circumference, high blood pressure, low levels of “good” cholesterol,” and other health problems — that have been strongly linked to developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.
However, the American Heart Association responded in criticism with the following statement: “It is important to note that the study does not show that soft drinks cause risk factors for heart disease. It does show that the people studied who drank soft drinks were more likely to develop risk factors for heart disease.”
Basically, consumption of soda is not good, no matter if it’s the diet or regular kind. Yikes, and to think soda is practically everywhere you go, just waiting for someone to consume it! I rather drink water and natural fruit juices. I’m not much of a soda person anyway. 
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I generally stick to water, with a glass of juice in the morning and an occasional beer or wine with dinner.
I can’t really imagine consuming coke. It does such a good job of cleaning my bathroom sink and toilet, I just can’t imagine why I would want to actually drink the stuff.
Add that to the fact that I avoid caffeine like the plague.
LOL, I didn’t know that you could use coke to clean… I used to be a big caffeine drinker, but now I decided to avoid it. Just thinking about drinking soda makes me sick.
I occasionally drink sodas, but I never liked the taste of the diet versions… and it seems to me that if you’re going to indulge, why not /indulge/?
I also kind of doubt that the diet sodas are going to counteract the fat and calories in a Big Mac value meal.
I used to think diet sodas were better because of the less calories, but the fact that it has so much junk in it, I decided to give it up. Either way, I try to avoid foods that will hurt me in a sense that there is no nutritional value. But that’s just me!
I love Diet Coke. I will have to keep an eye out for the plus.
This depresses me beyond all reason…
I agree with V.Neely. I definitely prefer the ‘full fat’ version compared to ‘diet versions’. I’m generally quite good at avoiding fizzy drinks but I do like the occassional can of Coke on days where I feel a little bit depleted.