Diet Coke


Diet Coke, Coca-Cola light or Light Taste Coca-Cola is a sugar-free and no-calorie soft drink produced and distributed by The Coca-Cola Company. It contains artificial sweeteners instead of sugar. Unveiled on July 8, 1982, and introduced in the United States on August 9, it was the first new brand since 1886 to use the Coca-Cola trademark. The product quickly overtook the company's existing diet cola, Tab, in sales.

History

When diet colas first entered the market beginning with Diet Rite, the Coca-Cola Company had a long-standing policy to not use the Coca-Cola name on any product other than the flagship cola, and so its diet cola was named Tab when it was released in 1963. Its rival Pepsi had no such qualms, and after the long-term success of its sugar-free Diet Pepsi became clear, Coca-Cola decided to launch a competing sugar-free brand under the Coca-Cola name, which could be marketed more easily than Tab, which it did in 1982.
Diet Coke does not use a modified form of the Coca-Cola recipe, but instead an entirely different formula based on the Tab formula. The controversial New Coke, introduced in 1985, used a version of the Diet Coke recipe that contained high fructose corn syrup and had a slightly different balance of ingredients. In 2005, the company introduced Coca-Cola Zero, a sugar-free formula more closely based on original Coca-Cola.
In 2005, under pressure from retailer Walmart, the company released a new formulation called "Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda". Sucralose and acesulfame potassium replace aspartame in this version. Early sales were weaker than anticipated; however, Coca-Cola did little advertising for the brand, investing money and advertising in Coca-Cola Zero instead. By late 2009, some distributors had stopped supplying Diet Coke sweetened with Splenda.
In 2018, in an effort to be more appealing to millennials, Diet Coke was packaged in a taller, more slender can and introduced four new flavors.

Sales

Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi have capitalized on the markets of people who require low sugar regimens, such as diabetics and people concerned with calorie intake. In the UK, a 330 ml can of Diet Coke contains around 1.3 kilocalories compared to 142 kilocalories for a regular can of Coca-Cola.

Sweeteners

Diet Coke was sweetened with aspartame, an artificial sweetener, after the sweetener became available in the United States in 1983. Early on, to save money, this was also originally in a blend with saccharin. After Diet Rite cola advertised its 100 percent use of aspartame, and the manufacturer of NutraSweet warned that the NutraSweet trademark would not be made available to a blend of sweeteners, Coca-Cola switched the formula to 100 percent aspartame. Diet Coke from fountain dispensers still contains some saccharin to extend shelf life.
According to the Coca-Cola Company, "he sweetener blend used for Diet Coke/Coca-Cola Light is formulated for each country based on consumer preference." In countries in which cyclamates are not banned, Diet Coke or Coca-Cola Light may be sweetened with a blend containing aspartame, cyclamates, and acesulfame potassium.

Brand portfolio

Product timeline

The most commonly distributed version of Diet Coke relies on aspartame, which has been suggested to pose health concerns. Aspartame is one of the most intensively scrutinized food additives.
Coca-Cola has now released Diet Coke sweetened with sucralose, although it is not as common.
The sodium benzoate was found to break down mitochondrial DNA in living yeast cells. Research published in 2007 for the British government's Food Standards Agency suggests that sodium benzoate is linked to hyperactive behavior and decreased intelligence in children. In January 2008 sodium benzoate was removed from production lines for Diet Coke sold in the UK, however it remains in other Coke products and other production locations.