Consumer Review - Diet CokePlus

I have an acquired taste (regrettable passion?) for diet soda which makes what I have to say about DietCokePlus all the more sad.

The first disappointing thing about it is the label. The front is nice, "plus" is in rainbow letters, that's cute. I like the choice of seabreeze blue for the accents and cap. "Diet Coke with Vitamins & Minerals," it says. But then you turn to the Nutrition Facts on the back and realize you can probably get more vitamins and minerals out of a tablespoon of the water from your showerhead. Or maybe, depending on your cleaning habits, from the showerhead itself.

Per 8oz serving...
Niacin - 15% Daily value
Vitamin B6 - 15%
Vitamin B12 - 15%
Magnesium - 10%
Zinc - 10%

Notably completely absent are vitamin A, calcium, iron, and perhaps the most commonly (i.e. easily and cheaply) dissolved vitamin in prepackaged food and food-like products, vitamin C.

Also notably, in the ingredient lineup, coloring, aspartame (nutrasweet), and caffeine all occur in greater amounts than any of the above vitamins & minerals.

So if you were expecting a significant dose of anti-oxidants, this isn't for you. If you were looking for cough syrup that comes in coke flavor, this is a close substitute, which brings me to my second disappointment. Diet beverages are usually 'too sweet' but this is off the charts, and I think it only comes in "diet." I would recommend adding a cup of tap water to every 20oz bottle in order to dilute the aspartame and and top off the minerals.