Striving4Zen

Suddenly Vitaminwater doesn’t look so healthy after all. At least not to the Center for Science in Public Interest and participants in the class action lawsuit against Coca-Cola. The suit states that the Coke-owned brand is guilty of deceptive and unsubstantiated claims.

Glacéau Vitaminwater has long been marketed as a healthy alternative to other beverages thanks to added vitamins and minerals. CSPI has taken issue with many claims associated with its drinks like “rescue,” “energy” and “endurance.”

“We had been looking at Vitaminwater for a number of months. Our concern is flavored sugar water shouldn’t be marketed as a health drink,” CSPI litigation director Steve Gardner told Brandweek. “We were then contacted by two small law firms who were already working together. Their client had the same complaint we did so we joined forces.”

The brand's marketing claims the products can, among other things, reduce the risk of chronic disease and promote healthy joints. The health advocacy group feels the drink is more likely to do harm than good, considering the 33 grams of sugar. The marketing of Vitaminwater “is truly an irresponsible act by Coca-Cola. They know it is flavored snake oil,” said Gardner.

He pointed to the brand's double labeling practices as "them just thumbing their nose at the Federal Drug Administration and the consumer." Specifically, the servings of calories and other "bad stuff" are shown per every eight ounces while the vitamins and minerals are labeled per bottle.

This is not Coke’s first run in with CSPI. In 2007, the group sued the company over claims that its Enviga brand burns more calories than it consumes resulting in weight loss. The suit is still pending.

Coke has already come under fire from the FDA. Last month it sent Coke CEO Muhtar Kent a letter stating that Diet Coke Plus' nutrient claims are in violation of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

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Labels: Coca-Cola, Coke, CSPI, deceit, lawsuit, sugar, Vitamin Water, VitaminWater

Benzene is an industrial solvent and a known carcinogen, so food companies generally try to keep it out of their products.
However, two chemicals found in soda, sodium benzoate (a preservative) and ascorbic acid (vitamin C), can react to form benzene, especially in the presence of heat or light.
In 2007, Coca-Cola and Pepsi agreed to settle lawsuits brought against them after benzene was detected in their products. The suit alleged that Pepsi’s Diet Wild Cherry drink had benzene levels nearly four times the maximum level set by the Environmental Protection Agency for drinking water. Oopsy. Both companies agreed to reformulate; however, thousands of soft drinks containing benzoate and citric acids are still on the market.

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Labels: beverages, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, sodium benzoate, toxic, toxins

The beverage and food industries have sought the "perfect sweetener" for decades. It's no secret that standard table sugar (sucrose) and its even worse cousin, high-fructose corn syrup, rots teeth, leads to obesity, and is a major contributor to diabetes. So chemical companies have concocted an armada of synthetic sugar alternatives such as saccharin and aspartame that have been linked to everything from cancer to neurological disorders. Now Coca-Cola and Cargill have announced they have "developed" the perfect natural sweetener.
The sweetener is stevia, a zero calorie plant-based sweetener that has been used for hundreds of years. In Japan, 40% of the sweeteners consumed are from stevia, so it can't really be called a "new" sweetener. But here in the U.S., likely due to lobbying of the FDA by synthetic sweetener producers, stevia has been hidden in the shadows by strange labeling requirements that keep the average consumer from even understanding what stevia can be used for. Coca-Cola and Cargill plan to bring a patented version of stevia to the mainstream as the perfect natural sweetener by removing some of the bitter aftertaste. Is this good news or bad news?

Labels: artificial sweeteners, Cargill, Coca-Cola, Stevia