Coke Zero! (Coca Cola Zero)

Member Name: roberto900

Product:	Coca Cola Zero
Date:	06/03/08 (162 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great taste, no calories or sugar .

Disadvantages: Chemicals and the sweetener Aspartame

There are loads of different varieties of Coca Cola these days including the newest "Coca-Cola Orange" which just seems completely pointless to me but thats for another review! Coca Cola Zero, released in late 2005 (UK), is so called because it claims to be the calorie free cola and in this goes even further than the usual sugar-free "diet" variety. I'd like to point out at this point that Coke sell their products in a huge number of countries and bizarrely the ingredients and nutritional information etc. vary between countries. So, for the record this review is on the UK version of Coca Cola Zero!
First of all I would like to start with the aspect of this product that sets it apart from the usual Coke products.. the nutritional information.

Below is a list of the information for one can of Coke Zero:
Calories - 0
Fat - 0 g
Sugar - 0 g
Carbs - 0 g
Caffeine - 22 mg
Sodium - 32 mg
Protein - 0 mg
Potassium - 37 mg

Strangely, as the name suggests, there are 0 calories in this product and also 0g of sugar (as you would find with standard Diet Coke) but personally I am sceptical about how this is achieved and also what actually does make up the product. The taste is great, don't get me wrong, it is at least as good as ordinary Coke but the lack of any calories at all suggests that the chemicals that make up Coke Zero might not be so great!
So here we go.. the stuff that make up the drink:

Carbonated Water - Fairly harmless stuff!
Caffiene - Found in many drinks similar to this.
Colour (150d) - "Sulphite Ammonia Caramel" - There are claims of this being toxic but studys have now suggested it is not abnormally so.
Food acid 338 - "Phosphoric Acid" - Not good at all, used as a high-power industrial cleaner!!
Preservative 211 - Sodium Benzoate - Not a good chemical with one University having claimed that on its own it has the potential to damage the mitochondria in the body's cells.
Sweetener 950 - "Acesulfame Potassium"
Sweetener 951 - This is the one.. "Aspartame". Coke Zero contains 58mg of the stuff and it is causing a big debate for an artificial sweetener!
Aspartame is hugely debated with bodies such as the American FDA and European FSA having approved it in somewhat controversial circumstances. There are ongoing studies into whether or not it can be linked to headaches, brain tumors, brain lesions, and lymphoma. There are also debates as to links with cancer.

I would imagine that for the people who are in love with Coke then this product is somewhat of a dream come true. It is interesting that Coke have released the product with massive focus on the 0 calories aspect as they are clearly aiming the product at a different demographic audience than Diet Coke for example.
Most impressive for me is the way in which Coca Cola have removed all of the most well-known bad ingredients but somehow managed to maintain the proper taste of Coke because my first instinct when this product was released was to dismiss it because of the seemingly obvious assumption that it would have "zero" taste as well.

To conclude my review, I would just like to say that my own opinion on the Coke Zero is that it tastes great and has zero calories which is always good but, like every other drink like this, has to be drunk in moderation due to the chemicals that are involved in its production. I would recommend the product to those who have not tried it but would be wary of the amount I drank because of the health issues.

*Note: Also available on Ciao*

Summary: Drink but not in excessive amounts!?