Coke vs. Diet CokeWhich One to Choose?

By Kenda McClimon Over the course of the past few years, I can count on both hands the number of times I have been called out by family and friends for having a Diet Coke in my hand. Why do you drink that stuff?, Did you know that it is safer to drink regular Coke?, and You know that causes cancer, right? have all been questions thrown at me while enjoying my deliciously carbonated beverage. However, I never stopped to question my beverage of choice until recently. I was drinking my usual afternoon 16 oz. bottle of Diet Coke when I decided to turn it around until my eyes met the list of ingredients. Looking at the ingredients and how artificial they appeared; I wondered if my friends and family were possibly onto something. I also wondered how Diet CocaCola compared to Coca-Cola Original and if one was in fact better for consumption than the other. A rumor I had always heard was that the chemicals used in Diet Coke were dangerous to consume. I needed answers but could not find any. It then became my duty to answer the question every Coca-Cola enthusiast wants to know: Coke or Diet Coke? Naturally the truth could be unveiled with a little research. From Soda Fountains to Fountain Drinks Coca-Cola is as much a part of popular American culture as the automobile and drive-in movie theater. So how did it
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become Americas beverage of choice? In the 1880s John Stith Pemberton and Frank Mason Robinson went into partnership in Atlanta, Georgia and invented Coca-Cola syrup in their pharmacy. They combined the syrup with carbonated water by accident and the beverage became famous overnight. In the beginning, Coca-Cola contained the controversial ingredient cocaine, which was removed in the beginning of the 20th century due to public concern. The drink also, and still does, contain caffeine which also raised concern in the early years. However, the soda lived on and continued to use caffeine as an ingredient in the syrup. America seemed to move past their previous concerns as soda fountains became in high demand. Soda fountains were often found in pharmacies, parlors, candy stores, and dime stores. Enjoying an ice cold Coca-Cola was ideal and affordable for anybody on a hot summer afternoon. By 1909 the company was regularly bottling Coca-Cola and the drink was growing beyond the soda fountains.1
Food was more accessible, was preserved longer, and made quicker.

The 1950s were a time in food and beverage history that completely changed how Americans ate. Food was more accessible, was preserved longer, and made quicker. Families moved out of the dining rooms and closer to their televisions thanks to TV trays. Fast food restaurants, like McDonalds, opened up and served food
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Allen, Frederick. 1994. Secret Formula: How Brilliant Marketing and Relentless Salesmanship Made Coca-Cola the Best-Known Product in the World. New York: HarperCollins.

quickly and cheaply. Coca-Cola and other soft drinks such as Dr. Pepper and A&W Root Beer expanded and became normal products of American consumerism. Today Coca-Cola can be bought in gas stations, restaurants, vending machines, grocery stores, at sporting events, and in select retail stores.2 It is offered in a variety of flavors which include: Coca-Cola Original, Diet Coca-Cola, Caffeine Free Coca-Cola, Cherry Coke, Cherry Coke Zero, Coca-Cola Black Cherry Vanilla, Coca-Cola with Lemon, Coca-Cola with Lime, and CocaCola Zero just to name a few! And according to the company, more than 1.7 billion servings of Coca-Cola are consumed around the world in one day! Not bad for a couple of guys who were playing around with ingredients in a pharmacy 125 years ago!3 Recognizing how embedded Coca-Cola is in American culture, it is no wonder that people undoubtedly trust the brand and automatically assume it is safe to drink. If it was dangerous to consume, then how could it be so popular, right? Chemistry 101 Since Coca-Cola Original and Diet CocaCola are the two most popular versions of Coca-Cola, comparing them would be best for conscious consumers. The first step had to be listing and comparing the ingredients in the two beverages. The shared ingredients are underlined.
Ingredients in (1) 16 oz. bottle
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of Coca-Cola Original Carbonated Water High Fructose Corn Syrup

Caramel Color Phosphoric Acid

Natural Flavors

Caffeine

Carbon dioxide dissolved into water. Corn syrup that has been treated with enzymes to make it sweeter. 1.5 x sweeter than cane sugar A color additive. A solution made from phosphate rock. Used as a flavoring in drinks. Any ingredient that does not contain synthetic or artificial ingredients. An odorless and bitter white powder that occurs naturally in cola.

Ingredients in (1) 16 oz. bottle of Diet Coca-Cola Carbonated Water Caramel Color Aspartame

Information on ingredients Carbon dioxide dissolved into water. A color additive. A compound prepared from aspartic acid and phenylalanine. 200 x sweeter than cane sugar. A solution made from phosphate rock. Used as a flavoring in drinks. A Preservative. Any ingredient that does not contain synthetic or artificial ingredients. A flavoring for beverages made from citrus fruit. An odorless and bitter white powder that occurs naturally in cola.

Phosphoric Acid

Potassium Benzoate Natural Flavors

Citric Acid Caffeine

After comparing the ingredients, it was obvious that the biggest difference between the two drinks was the type of sweetener each used. In Coca-Cola Original the sweetener was high fructose corn syrup, while in Diet Coca-Cola the sweetener was aspartame. Diet Coca-Cola also contained phenylalanine (an amino acid) an ingredient used to make aspartame.5 The other

Information on ingredients

Popkin, Barry. 2009. The World is Fat: The Fads, Trends, Policies, and Products that are Fattening the Human Race. New York: Avery. 3 Access Board. Coca-Cola. http://www.cocacola.com.

Winter, Ruth. 1999. A Consumers Dictionary of Food Additives: Descriptions in Plain English of More than 8,000 Ingredients Both Harmful and Desirable Found in Food, 5th Addition. New York: Three Rivers Press. 5 Beni, Szabolcs, Ivanyi, Robert, Nozal, Bela, Sohajda, Tamas, Szente Lajos, Szabolcs, Beni, and Varga, Erzsebet. Characteristics

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difference was that Diet Coca-Cola contained preservatives (potassium benzoate). Along with the list of ingredients, these were the nutrition facts found on the same two bottles.
Coca-Cola Original Servings per bottle: 1 Total Calories: 190 Amount Serving (Percent daily value) Total Fat 0g 0% Sodium 60 mg 3% Total Carb 52 g 17% Sugars 52 g Protein 0g

ingredient because it is cheaper, easier to work with, and comes from a more reliable source. Corn syrup is often chosen over cane sugar because the United States does not produce enough cane sugar to meet demands. This sugar is controversial because it is corn being processed into sugar. 6 Aspartame, the sweetener used in Diet Coke is one of the most controversial ingredients used in the food industry. Those times when you have found yourself drinking a Diet Coke and somebody told you, That causes cancer. it is probably because of the reputation of this particular ingredient. Aspartame contains no calories and is therefore the reason why Diet Coke contains no calories. Aspartame was discovered by a pharmacist working on a drug for ulcers and was found to be 180 times sweeter than cane sugar. Aspartame has raised questions and concerns since the 1970s, but has been passed as safe by the Food and Drug Administration and is always in demand for calorie conscious eaters. 7 Since both of the sugars are controversial, it was impossible to decide which one was better than the other without the help of an expert. So I tracked down a nutritionist who had an opinion on the matter. Seeking Some Professional Advice Still unclear of the answer I was searching for, I decided to set up an appointment with a nutritionist. Joy Stafford, RD, LDN of Womack Army Medical Center, Ft. Bragg,
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Diet Coca-Cola Servings per bottle: 2 Total Calories: 0 Amount Serving (Percent daily value) Total Fat 0g 0% Sodium 30mg 1% Total Carb 0g 0% Protein 0g

The Diet Coca-Cola contained 0 calories while the Coca-Cola Original contained 190. Also, even though they were both 16 oz. portions, the Diet Coca-Cola listed the beverage to have two serving portions while the Original Coca-Cola had one. According to this information, both beverages contained 60 mg of sodium. So the question is, just because Diet Coca-Cola has fewer calories, does that automatically make it better for you? The answer obviously lied behind the ingredients, and the most obvious one was the difference in sweeteners. The Sweet, Sweet Truth High fructose corn syrup, found in the Original Coke, is made from treating corn with enzymes in order to produce the sweet syrup. The soft drink industry loves this
of Aspartame- Cyclodextrin Complexation. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 50 (5): 737-745.

Voorhees, Don. 2004. Why do Donuts Have Holes?: Fascinating Facts about What we Eat and Drink. New York: Kensington. 7 Thomas, Pat. 2005. Aspartame. Ecologist 35 (7): 36-46.

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NC was kind enough to meet with me to answer any questions. As I sat down in her office I immediately explained the objective of this research and was curious to hear what she had to say. My first question for her was, What is your opinion on both high fructose corn syrup and aspartame? She explained that they are different types of sweeteners used in foods and drinks and that the only difference in them is how they are made. A bit surprised with her answer I next asked, Is one better than the other? To this she explained that neither one is any more harmful than the other, however, with aspartame you consume fewer calories. There have been negative rumors since the 1970s about aspartame because they tried to connect cancer in lab mice to the sweetener. Nothing has ever been proven and it is just a rumor. To the best of our knowledge, Aspartame is safe to consume. So this explains where the it causes cancer rumor originated from! Compare high fructose corn syrup and aspartame to cane sugar; all three of them are exactly the same. Take a look at a sugar cane, and then look at granulated sugar. In order for granulated sugar to come from a sugar cane, it has to undergo processing. Its the same story but different method with aspartame and high fructose corn syrup. A sugar cane is turned into granulated sugar through a series of 5 steps which include: 1. Grinding the cane to extract the juice

3. Spinning the crystals at high speed to get raw sugar 4. Shipping raw sugar to refinery 5. Washing and filtering raw sugar to remove leftover plant material 6. Crystallizing, drying, and packing pure sugar8 Through this interview, Stafford provided the missing pieces of the puzzle.9 SoWhich One Is It? Lets face it. America is nation that loves the sweet stuff. Whether it is high fructose corn syrup, cane sugar, or aspartame, if it is sweet then it is good! Today Type 2 Diabetes is one of the leading preventable diseases in this country. Our bodies naturally crave sugar so that it can be used for energy. In earlier human times, sugar was obtained naturally through fruits and vegetables. That sugar was then used for physical activities such as hunting and gathering. Today Americans are less physically activite but ingest more sugar than ever before in history. Large amounts of sugar are used in just about every food consumed anymore. This leads to complications such as obesity, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and treatments such as dialysis.10 Soda is one of the leading products continually blamed for these health issues. Since soda is so accessible today, many prefer it over
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2. Noiling the juice until the syrup thickens and crystallizes

Voorhees, Don. 2004. Why do Donuts Have Holes?: Fascinating Facts about What we Eat and Drink. New York: Kensington. 9 Personal interview with Joy Stafford, RD, LDN on Tuesday April 3, 2012. 10 OConnell, Jeff. 2010. Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind Americas Deadliest Habit and the Simple Way to Beat It. New York: Hyperion.

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water.11 And why not? Unless you just finished running a 5k it is certainly tastier than water. As long as a person drinks soda in reasonable portions and is a conscious consumer, then pointing fingers at products should not be the solution. Choosing a soft drink is practicing free will, and choosing no is always an option. Now then, time for the final answerCoke or Diet Coke? The answer is Diet Coke. Looking at all of the information collected, it is clear that Diet Coke is the better choice because it contains less carbs and calories than Original Coke does. The carbs and calories in Original Coke come from the high fructose corn syrup, while the aspartame in Diet Coke does not produce these things. Also, in one 16 oz. bottle of Coca-Cola Original, the daily percent value of sugar is 17%! That is almost 1/5 of a persons daily recommended sugar intake through just one beverage. Since we learned that aspartame, sugar, and high fructose corn syrup are all basically the same, then one would be wise to choose the sweetener with the fewest calories. As mentioned in the paragraph before this, sugar and foods with high calories are consumed more than ever before, so if you can choose the product with the fewer calorie and carb option, then it most likely the better option. So, the next time you find yourself with a Diet Coke in hand being lectured on how bad it is for you. Smile, tilt back your head, and take a big gulp with
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ease because you made the better choice.

Brownell, Kelly D. 2004. Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry, Americas Obesity Crisis, &What We Can Do About It. New York: McGraw-Hill.

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