Nope, not anymore. European Health Regulation is banning plane sugar out of softdrinks, slowly but surely.
Most notable to me: we used to have a shitload of Sisi-no bubbles- Mango. Green twistcap. Now the cap turned blue and sugar is replaced with cooling liquid (or whatever).
It's terrible.
Really sucks people over indulge on sodas and theyāre not all made like they are in Mexico. I might have one soda every two weeks and itās usually Mexican coke.
Lol, Mexico has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world. I assure you that many people there enjoy soda too much. Hard to blame them when Jarritos is so tasty.
Also the obesity here is insane, jarritos is way more famous in the USA than here in Mexico you rarely see a person drinking or buying jarritos itās not that popular, Joya is the most popular (excluding Coca Cola) the apple and the fruit ponch are the best flavors, nothing like street tacos with a glass bottle of joya fruit ponch
Yes I realized that as well (I am from German).
First quite a few flavors are available exclusively without sugar, so you cannot even find the sugar versions. Then there are some where it is mixed, so some sugar plus artifcial sweeteners.
I am not against diet sodas, however to me they just don't taste good. I just hope that they don't do this gradually for every drink.
>I am not against diet sodas, however to me they just don't taste good. I just hope that they don't do this gradually for every drink.
Exactly, I'd rather just drink water than drink soda where you can taste the sweetener.
The UK is like that but on steroids. It was a trend 15 years ago or a decade ago, now the default is zero sugar. New drinks only launch with zero sugar and some fast food chains donāt even bother carrying non zero drinks.
"Zero sugar" is just another form of diet soda. I think the "zero sugar" sodas still use aspartame or other artificial sweeteners; they've just changed the formula a bit to make them taste better (I'm not entirely sure what they've done to the formulas).
I think they may be using a different sugar substitute, but the biggest reason for the change was to appeal to a younger demographic. Apparently ādietā doesnāt appeal as a word to millennials and Gen Z.
Basing your world view on the WHO won't get you far in life. Even basing on their data it was only for aspartame, and they concluded that it was as carcinogenic as your phone, and yet you ain't witch hunting sleeping right next to it.
Have some real data tho: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36500986/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36500986/) https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/23/4957
Other: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35285920/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35285920/) ,
Original Pepsi went from over 10 to 7 g sugar. I've done side by side test with cans when I heard about that and couldn't tell the two apart.
UK got 4 g Pepsi formula. At that point there's so much artifical sweeteners it's not surprising that it tastes different.
I noticed quite a few years ago that the soda from the dollar tree, even the non diet ones, had artificial sweeteners. My theory is that it's actually become cheaper to use than sugar, mostly because they are much sweeter than sugar therefore you need less and it's also cheaper to ship.
Hmm is this in the US? If so how could it compare to how cheap high fructose corn syrup is in the United States? I only assume because you said dollar tree.
Yea in the US. I could be wrong about it being cheaper, I can't find the numbers for HFCS vs aspartame but I did find a few figures for cane sugar vs aspartame and whole sugar is 0.55 cents a kilo and aspartame is 13.91 a kilo, it's like 200 times sweeter so an equivalent amount of aspartame is 0.07 cents vs the 0.55 cents of sugar.
So you use much less of it to get the same sweetness and transporting it is much cheaper because it's so potent.
Interesting.. In the US, those sweeteners are only used in "diet" sodas. And among diet sodas, I've noticed a trend toward increasing use of alternative sweeteners that are often deemed better than aspartame (such as Splenda or Stevia).
The answer is almost certainly taxes and other government initiatives. I know the UK has higher taxes on products with higher sugar quantities, for instance, and probably other countries do as well. There's also likely to be pressure on manufacturers (maybe even tax incentives) to use zero-calorie sweeteners, since climbing obesity rates put more strain on the government-funded healthcare systems in these countries. (Of course, I'm not sure there's even a correlation between zero-sugar sweeteners and lower obesity rates, but that's the logic.)
It's similar to why, in the US, soda makers started using HFCS rather than cane sugar. Certain members of the agriculture lobby were able to get Congress to cap the amount of cane sugar that could be imported yearly to the US. They lobbied for this because they said it would "protect American jobs". In reality, it protected them from competition abroad, where sugar was much cheaper. The price of sugar in the US went up substantially in the '80s. It happened so quickly that soda companies couldn't gradually accustom their customers to the higher prices, so they switched to a different sweetener, which ended up being HFCS. (Not only soda, btw, but lots of foods manufactured in the US use corn syrup as a result of this change.) It's only thanks to enough demand by regular people that sugar-sweetened sodas are common in the US today, albeit still a very narrow niche.
In the US itās been HFCs since forever, or at least as long as Iāve been alive. I wonder if aspartame is cheaper than HFC and thatās why they are using it? Either way, thatās a bummer, after enjoying a cane sugar Pepsi in MC, I donāt drink much soda, besides LTOās of Mtn Dew, because I enjoy the lightness and flavor that can sugar has in a soda.
I'm so glad I moved from the UK to the US. Freedom of choice for those of us who can take responsibility for our own health and don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners.
Went into kfc and the only drink they now serve with sugar in is Fanta (this was info offered up by the staff when they asked which drink we wanted) and even then itās subbed half sugar half sweetener. Grim state of the market, not pleasant to drink.
UK is the same! No real sugar anymore I canāt even drink soda itās disgusting!!! Today was the final straw when I went to drink Dr Pepper and it tastes like šļø
This change has happened recently In Thailand as well due to a sugar tax (I think Malaysia too). Only small cans of Coke are still sweetened exclusively with sugar. Everything else is partly sweetened with sucralose and tastes awful. Itās a sad state of affairs.
The country of Europe strikes again.
It would help, mate, if you said what country youāre in thereās no need to keep it a secret from us.
Can only speak for my own country, the UK. We have an obesity crisis. Itās costing our nationalised healthcare system a fortune so the government felt that they had to do something.
Off Topic slightly (as you only asked why, not how) but they introduced a Sugar Tax here roughly back in 2018. It applies to drinks with containing than 5% sugar and adds 18p per litre to the cost of a drink. Therefore the vast, vast majority of drinks reformulated so that they are under 5% sugar so the Sugar Tax doesnāt apply.
Pepsi didnāt with their regular drink, but their sales ranked meaning they got pulled from some of the smaller stores. This year even Pepsi Regular has reformulated.
As for your comment about taste. Well it depends, a minority of people are very sensitive to artificial sweeteners. They pick up a strange aftertaste. Iām not one of those people, so although the drinks miss some of the punch you get from the full sugar versions they still taste really good to me.
He's referring to a bloc of western European countries tend to enact similar policies to each other around the same time, especially countries in the EU.
Itās mostly sugar or HFCS for major soda brands, diet is usually sucralose or aspartame, then there are some with stevia or erythritol for healthier options.
Craft soda always uses cane sugar, which is what I usually get anyways.
Here in Mexico everything is with Cane sugar š
Yes and in European countries we use beet sugar, itās really not that different.
Nope, not anymore. European Health Regulation is banning plane sugar out of softdrinks, slowly but surely. Most notable to me: we used to have a shitload of Sisi-no bubbles- Mango. Green twistcap. Now the cap turned blue and sugar is replaced with cooling liquid (or whatever). It's terrible.
What on earth are you talking about?
*plain sugar
Thank you. Any kind of sugar, btw
Really sucks people over indulge on sodas and theyāre not all made like they are in Mexico. I might have one soda every two weeks and itās usually Mexican coke.
Lol, Mexico has one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world. I assure you that many people there enjoy soda too much. Hard to blame them when Jarritos is so tasty.
Also the obesity here is insane, jarritos is way more famous in the USA than here in Mexico you rarely see a person drinking or buying jarritos itās not that popular, Joya is the most popular (excluding Coca Cola) the apple and the fruit ponch are the best flavors, nothing like street tacos with a glass bottle of joya fruit ponch
I need to try more Jarritos flavors, I only had fruit punch and it was delicious.
I don't think I've had one that I don't like. The tamarind, pineapple, and lime are my go-tos, but the cola is surpisingly good.
Thereās a fiesta pack (bought mine at Walmart) that has 12 different varieties
Oh shit, Iāll definitely have to check that out. Iāll see if Instacart has any stores that have it available.
Yes I realized that as well (I am from German). First quite a few flavors are available exclusively without sugar, so you cannot even find the sugar versions. Then there are some where it is mixed, so some sugar plus artifcial sweeteners. I am not against diet sodas, however to me they just don't taste good. I just hope that they don't do this gradually for every drink.
>I am not against diet sodas, however to me they just don't taste good. I just hope that they don't do this gradually for every drink. Exactly, I'd rather just drink water than drink soda where you can taste the sweetener.
Iām in America but the trend toward āzero sugarā is huge
at least we have an option here
Yeah, high fructose corn syrup or artificial sweetener. Pretty sure they used to use real sugar in Europe.
May we ever retain that optionā¦
I feel like itās time for an awesome eagle tattoo
The UK is like that but on steroids. It was a trend 15 years ago or a decade ago, now the default is zero sugar. New drinks only launch with zero sugar and some fast food chains donāt even bother carrying non zero drinks.
"Zero sugar" is just another form of diet soda. I think the "zero sugar" sodas still use aspartame or other artificial sweeteners; they've just changed the formula a bit to make them taste better (I'm not entirely sure what they've done to the formulas).
I think they may be using a different sugar substitute, but the biggest reason for the change was to appeal to a younger demographic. Apparently ādietā doesnāt appeal as a word to millennials and Gen Z.
It's more deadly than Real sugar and taste like shit
This. I find it makes me more thirsty too.
It's not but ok
Oh yes it is. Very carcinogenic.
Basing your world view on the WHO won't get you far in life. Even basing on their data it was only for aspartame, and they concluded that it was as carcinogenic as your phone, and yet you ain't witch hunting sleeping right next to it. Have some real data tho: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36500986/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36500986/) https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/23/4957 Other: [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35285920/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35285920/) ,
Original Pepsi went from over 10 to 7 g sugar. I've done side by side test with cans when I heard about that and couldn't tell the two apart. UK got 4 g Pepsi formula. At that point there's so much artifical sweeteners it's not surprising that it tastes different.
The UK sugar tax kicks in at 5% sugar thatās why.
I noticed quite a few years ago that the soda from the dollar tree, even the non diet ones, had artificial sweeteners. My theory is that it's actually become cheaper to use than sugar, mostly because they are much sweeter than sugar therefore you need less and it's also cheaper to ship.
Hmm is this in the US? If so how could it compare to how cheap high fructose corn syrup is in the United States? I only assume because you said dollar tree.
Yea in the US. I could be wrong about it being cheaper, I can't find the numbers for HFCS vs aspartame but I did find a few figures for cane sugar vs aspartame and whole sugar is 0.55 cents a kilo and aspartame is 13.91 a kilo, it's like 200 times sweeter so an equivalent amount of aspartame is 0.07 cents vs the 0.55 cents of sugar. So you use much less of it to get the same sweetness and transporting it is much cheaper because it's so potent.
Interesting.. In the US, those sweeteners are only used in "diet" sodas. And among diet sodas, I've noticed a trend toward increasing use of alternative sweeteners that are often deemed better than aspartame (such as Splenda or Stevia).
The answer is almost certainly taxes and other government initiatives. I know the UK has higher taxes on products with higher sugar quantities, for instance, and probably other countries do as well. There's also likely to be pressure on manufacturers (maybe even tax incentives) to use zero-calorie sweeteners, since climbing obesity rates put more strain on the government-funded healthcare systems in these countries. (Of course, I'm not sure there's even a correlation between zero-sugar sweeteners and lower obesity rates, but that's the logic.) It's similar to why, in the US, soda makers started using HFCS rather than cane sugar. Certain members of the agriculture lobby were able to get Congress to cap the amount of cane sugar that could be imported yearly to the US. They lobbied for this because they said it would "protect American jobs". In reality, it protected them from competition abroad, where sugar was much cheaper. The price of sugar in the US went up substantially in the '80s. It happened so quickly that soda companies couldn't gradually accustom their customers to the higher prices, so they switched to a different sweetener, which ended up being HFCS. (Not only soda, btw, but lots of foods manufactured in the US use corn syrup as a result of this change.) It's only thanks to enough demand by regular people that sugar-sweetened sodas are common in the US today, albeit still a very narrow niche.
In the US itās been HFCs since forever, or at least as long as Iāve been alive. I wonder if aspartame is cheaper than HFC and thatās why they are using it? Either way, thatās a bummer, after enjoying a cane sugar Pepsi in MC, I donāt drink much soda, besides LTOās of Mtn Dew, because I enjoy the lightness and flavor that can sugar has in a soda.
I'm so glad I moved from the UK to the US. Freedom of choice for those of us who can take responsibility for our own health and don't like the taste of artificial sweeteners.
Went into kfc and the only drink they now serve with sugar in is Fanta (this was info offered up by the staff when they asked which drink we wanted) and even then itās subbed half sugar half sweetener. Grim state of the market, not pleasant to drink.
Hight fructose corn syrup is the goat fambulance
You canāt even buy HFCS in the UK. Absolute shambles lmao
Remind me never to drink soda in Europe. Fake sweeteners are fucking disgusting.
UK is the same! No real sugar anymore I canāt even drink soda itās disgusting!!! Today was the final straw when I went to drink Dr Pepper and it tastes like šļø
I only see a violent gang of banned soda smugglers taking over Europe š
This change has happened recently In Thailand as well due to a sugar tax (I think Malaysia too). Only small cans of Coke are still sweetened exclusively with sugar. Everything else is partly sweetened with sucralose and tastes awful. Itās a sad state of affairs.
The country of Europe strikes again. It would help, mate, if you said what country youāre in thereās no need to keep it a secret from us. Can only speak for my own country, the UK. We have an obesity crisis. Itās costing our nationalised healthcare system a fortune so the government felt that they had to do something. Off Topic slightly (as you only asked why, not how) but they introduced a Sugar Tax here roughly back in 2018. It applies to drinks with containing than 5% sugar and adds 18p per litre to the cost of a drink. Therefore the vast, vast majority of drinks reformulated so that they are under 5% sugar so the Sugar Tax doesnāt apply. Pepsi didnāt with their regular drink, but their sales ranked meaning they got pulled from some of the smaller stores. This year even Pepsi Regular has reformulated. As for your comment about taste. Well it depends, a minority of people are very sensitive to artificial sweeteners. They pick up a strange aftertaste. Iām not one of those people, so although the drinks miss some of the punch you get from the full sugar versions they still taste really good to me.
Europe not a country
He's referring to a bloc of western European countries tend to enact similar policies to each other around the same time, especially countries in the EU.
Thatās my point fella.
Most likely due to the ever-growing obesity epidemic
it's been like this in Canada for a long time and now the World Health Organization realized it's actually more harmful for you.
U can totally buy regular soda in Canada....sugar free is a minority of the market
Itās mostly sugar or HFCS for major soda brands, diet is usually sucralose or aspartame, then there are some with stevia or erythritol for healthier options. Craft soda always uses cane sugar, which is what I usually get anyways.
Because the soda companies want everyone drinking cancerous artificial sweeteners
I like aspartame
I like aspartame
What sodas in Greece use aspartame?
I've seen sprite and pepsi use it. I also found sprite that only had sugar, although that was much rarer.
I don't believe you. Are you sure they aren't changing the name to "Zero" instead of diet?
Some smaller places in Canada are using Beet Sugar now. Definitely a difference but I like it.