FoodFacts.com understands that informed food choices are the best food choices. So we wanted to make sure you’re well acquainted with four disturbing ingredients in Diet Colas that could help you to make more educated beverage selections.

Potassium Benzoate
Potassium Benzoate is used as a preservative in foods. It prevents bacteria and fungi from contaminating food, beverages, cosmetics, dental care products, and pharmaceuticals, Fruit juice, pickles, and soft drinks can be preserved with potassium benzoate. Most countries approve the use of potassium benzoate, but the European Union suggests children not consume products preserved with it.

Phosphoric acid
Phosphoric acid is a corrosive acid that can form three different classes of salts, namely primary phosphates, dibasic phosphates and tribasic phosphates. Phosphoric acid is soluble in water. It is incompatible with strong caustics and it is corrosive to ferrous metals and alloys. It readily reacts with metals to form flammable hydrogen gas.
It is used as an anti-oxidant in food, as a flavor additive for sharp taste in food (jellies, preserves) and soft drinks, as a tang (Food Additive 338) and for the manufacture of yeasts and gelatin. Phosphoric acid has been shown to decrease bone density and erode tooth enamel.

Caramel Coloring
There are many different types of caramel coloring, each engineered to serve a particular purpose in food chemistry. The caramel coloring used in soft drinks adds ammonia and sulfites to the production of the beverage. In addition to possible dangers of these unwanted ingredients, caramel coloring can also be derived from food products that are common allergens and should be avoided by people with allergies.

Aspartame
One of the most common artificial sweeteners is aspartame. It is 200 times sweeter than table sugar and lower in calories. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends the acceptable daily intake of 50 mg/kg of body weight/day. The European Food Safety Authority recommends only 40 mg/kg. There is much controversy on whether aspartame causes cancer. Expert agencies in the United States declare aspartame as safe to consume. A few studies have given rats aspartame with leukemia and lymphomas occurring in rats. However, many studies in the lab and by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) examined the effects of aspartame and saw no signs of aspartame as a carcinogen, or causing cancer. Health problems can still occur with the consumption of aspartame.

When you reach for a beverage, there’s more to consider than calories and taste and FoodFacts.com wants you to be as informed as possible when making decisions about different products.

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Foodfacts.com came across an article this morning which verifies that nutrition labels are often very misleading and boast unrealistic claims, such as “improving brain function.” Many of our followers already know that nutrition labels can’t be trusted 100 percent, however, this can be eye-opening for the few still trying to figure things out.

How well do you really know what you’re drinking?

Savvy shoppers know not to take product labels at face value. Still, it’s been a rough couple of weeks for consumers trying to keep the facts straight about what’s in what they drink.

First it was the news about how not-so-one-hundred-percent 100% orange juice is. For those who may be unaware of the controversy, here’s what you need to know: During processing, things like orange aroma, oil, and pulp can get separated from the actual juice. Specifically, the process of removing the oxygen from the juice (which is done to keep it from spoiling without the use of preservatives) strips the juice of a lot of its natural flavors. And so to make up for the loss, those natural components — in the form of “flavor packs” — get added back in after processing. Not surprisingly, the backlash among the OJ-drinking set was fast and furious.

Now, hot on the heels of this revealing information, comes word that some of the popular brands of coconut water fail to deliver the “promised” amount of sodium — an electrolyte key to the drink’s appeal as a sports and energy drink. A report from ConsumerLab.com revealed that only one out of the three tested beverages offered an amount of electrolytes comparable to other sports drinks like Gatorade. Even though some may not outright call themselves sports drinks on the label (O.N.E. Coconut Water has), that’s certainly how they’re marketed (not to mention some even boast athlete endorsements). As ConsumerLab president Dr. Tom Cooperman told the Huffington Post, “People should be aware that the labels are not accurate on some of the products, and they shouldn’t count on coconut water for serious rehydration.”

Thing is, when it comes to finding out news like this, are you really even surprised? Beverage labels, and labels in general, are a product’s face to the world — that they’re used as a canvas to improve the image of their product and make it more appealing to consumers is easy to understand. Of course, some cases are more egregious than others. For instance, how Snapple’s teas were labeled as “all natural” despite listing citric acid as an additive. Or worse, the example of Nestle’s Juicy Juice Brain Development Fruit Juice claiming that it “Helps Support Brain Development.” Apparently, such claims, called structure/function claims, require no FDA pre-certification.

(Huffington Post)

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