Coke Zero is sweetened with aspartame and acesulfame potassium (ace-k) and has zero calories. Artificial Sweeteners are thought to be safe, although some people believe they are unsafe. Splenda, in particular, is viewed as unhealthy by some.
The main chemical difference between Coke Zero and Diet Coke is that Coke Zero has about half the aspartame but has more ace-k.
Confused anyone?
It’s a marketing thing – Coca Cola have manufactured a “diet” coke without using the word diet… which in their eyes will appeal to a different demographic (specifically men).
Coke Zero Ingredients
Carbonated Water, Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Aspartame, Potassium Benzoate (to protect taste), Natural Flavors, Potassium Citrate, Acesulfame Potassium, Caffeine.
Caffeine content: 23mg/8 fl oz
Other Varieties
Coca-cola Vanilla Zero, and Coca-cola Cherry Zero.
Coke Zero vs Diet Coke
The two products are subtly different. The primary difference is that Coke Zero has LESS aspartame.
| COKE ZERO | DIET COKE | |
| Ingredients | Carbonated Water, Caramel Color, Phosphoric Acid, Aspartame, Potassium Benzoate, Natural Flavors, Potassium Citrate, Acesulfame Potassium, Caffeine. |
Carbonated Water, Caramel Color, Aspartame, Phosphoric Acid, Potassium Benzoate, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Caffeine |
| Caffeine | 23mg/8 fl. oz | 31mg/8 fl. oz |
Diet Coke With Splenda
Although harder to find, Coca Cola make another zero-calorie Coke: Diet Coke with Splenda. This has no aspartame but is instead sweetened with Sucralose (brand name Splenda).
Think You Know About Artificial Sweeteners?
Take this short test to see how much you actually know.
There is no Coke sweetened with Stevia. Coca-cola have been working on a brand of Stevia called Truvia – the sweetener has not yet found its way into any Coke formulation.
Caffeine is Higher in Diet Sodas
Check out our comparison of caffeine levels in diet drinks. We discovered that in many cases, caffeine amounts are higher in diet versions over their regular sugar-sweetened varieties.
How Soda Affects Your Health
Soft drinks make up a significant portion of our diet, however there are more health risks than what many people realize. It is possible to quit: find out how to break your soda habit today.
We prefer regular sugar-sweetened sodas to their diet versions, because sugar-based drinks have a better ‘mouth-feel’. It’s not just about taste but about texture.
There is also another factor in calories. Diet pop can still contain carbs. The zero drinks as far as I’ve seen so far have absolutely no carbs.
Which is why they are truly calorie free.
Actually, it’s saccharine, NOT Splenda, that is particularly considered to be unsafe.
I LOVE coke zero, however I can not intake Aspartame. I don’t care how tested Aspartame is, I have done my own test and found that anytime I consume a product with Aspartame I get a yeast infection. It does not matter if Aspartame is in Yogurt, Gum, Soda, ANYTHING, I get a yeast infection. Maybe I personally just have an allergy to it, but Aspartame is not good for ME.
I had to stop Coke zero, Tried Diet Coke with Splenda and it is horrible. I switched to Pepsi One and they just discontinued it… now I am out of luck. I guess it is time to get healthy and try a life Soda free. Not going to be easy. As much as I like to say I NEED my coke that is simply not a fact. I WANT my coke, no one NEEDS it. You need water you need oxygen. You don’t need soda pop of any flavor/brand. Good Luck to everyone trying to find their flavor.
I do not believe that the advertising should essentially be saying “This is healthy”, rather, “this is less bad”. However the Aspartame argument is silly. There is more naturally occuring in some fruit juice than in Coke Zero.
“…FDA officials describing aspartame as “one of the most thoroughly tested and studied food additives the agency has ever approved” and its safety as “clear cut”.”
Source: Magnuson BA, Burdock GA, Doull J et al. (2007). “Aspartame: a safety evaluation based on current use levels, regulations, and toxicological and epidemiological studies”. Critical Reviews in Toxicology 37 (8): 629–727. doi:10.1080/10408440701516184. PMID 17828671.
Too much of anything is unhealthy
Does Diet Cherry Coke have Aspertame in it? I am on the Atkins diet and I need to stay away from aspertame. Also I like Diet Sunkist does this have aspertame?
Yep … I believe it’s the exact same drink. I drank Tab for years. When I first tasted Coke Zero, it immediately hit me: this is Tab, in an updated can.
Hi
Whats wrong with sugars, its difficult to find diet cherry coke.Dislike the taste of coke zero.Ok drinking half a can of sugar cherry coke wont do u any harm?.Like alchcol abuse is much more as u depend on,want more of it..more at risk.I thought coke is fine for drinks:-)
The taste of coke zero and diet coke is not similar! I adore coke zero ( 1 kcal per 250 ml) but hate diet coke because it taste fake(0.5 kcal per 250 ml) but the diffrence between this two is only different proportions of ingridients.
wtf are “OBTOPSIES”?!?!?!
I’ve had Type 2 diabetes for a few years now, so I was motivated to find out what my best options were. Stevia is the only sweetener I have found recommended at all. Honey is by some, especially with quantities of cinnamon to make a fat burner. That I really haven’t used enough to tell if it works.
But the cautions on all sweeteners exceeds those of ‘processed’ foods and nitrates, etc. – with sweetened acidic drinks being at the head of the line for being bad news.
Oddly, ‘fruit’ drinks’ are rated as being bad for you -stimulating diabetes – but are nothing like the cautions on Aspertame…which are insane.
Here’s a sample http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkeHwMyCEGI
I think Dr. Mercola had another ‘pharmqacological warfare’ review.
Those who think ‘the government wouldn’t let them do that’ better think about what the government does in fact do. They brag about ‘wars’ – which kill with under-reported efficiency. I’ll stop ‘droning’ on.
What’s known to be safe ? Unprocessed – not nuked either – foods and water. The rest are innovations not proven harmful.
Smokers can relate.
wow, is your life such that you have to make personal attacks against someone you don’t even know over what is printed on a label of soda? Thank you for the smile this morning, you arrogant ass.
Coca Cola Zero causes brain tumors. Read the facts/studies about aspartame. This is a syntectic made chemical that our body isn’t use to handle.
Aspartame, Zero, is at least one hundred times stronger then sugar. That’s why it kills cells, especially in the brain section.
This chemical is forbidden in a few countries, Australia and Japan. Because they understand the consequences of consuming this product. Tokyo, Japan has a history of toxic disasters, that’s why Japan doesn’t tolerate Aspartame.
There are other substitutes that are 100% natural that’s tastes like sugar, even stronger, but doesn’t contain calories.
Knowledge is power!
Coke Zero tastes terrible. Coca cola needs to make the old standard flavors and stop trying to invent something new. No body wants new flavors and we are not going to buy that slop water that they are attempting to sell. Produce the flavors that the public wants and stop wasting money on advertising. we do not buy Coke for the advertising we buy Coke for the taste.
So for the last 3 months I been on a diet challenge with some friends. Honestly, Coke Zero was my secret weapon to winning. I dropped 35lbs in 3 months and pulverized my friends in the competition to win the jackpot prize of $200. Now that it’s over though, I am beginning to notice just how much I been drinking the stuff. 3 cans a day on average, some days maybe one more. Noticeable side effects? None really, except in the last week I have noticed my hair starting to get a little thinner, but this maybe due to the last few weeks I have not gone to the gym.
I have read all these ‘its bad for you’ stuff, and it’s really difficult to separate the nut-bars from the science and good sense. My last 10 years journey through vitamins and herbs brought me to a more keener understanding of the hype/pie in the sky type of health mentality vs. the real. From everything I read, to everything I tried. I am willing to wager I have taken more variety of herbal supplements and vitamins then every commenter on this site combined in attempts to test out claimed ‘natural’ alternatives that seem to have become their own run away train of lies.
I have no problem with water, I drink plenty when I am working out everyday and with all my meals (along with vitamins, and some other natural herbs). It’s only in the last week though I have noticed the aftertaste of coke zero and maybe some of the side effects, which leads me to believe that if you don’t keep your system moving (ie exercise) anything you consume into your body can just sort of fester like sludge and be ‘bad for you’.
Please refrain from referring to every ‘man made’ thing as crap. Truth is, every single thing you consume was touched by a ‘man made’ thing to make it possible. The crops that feed you all those fruits veggies and nuts were treated with fertilizers and pesticides that indeed are ‘man made’ and make it possible to yield the amounts of food needed to feed the populace demands today. Think the organic stuff without pesticides is any better? Think again. The stuff they use contains just as much carcinogens as the regular pesticides used.
If you want to blame anybody for your poor health though, look in the mirror and get off your ass and start moving. Dead things are still, living things move. Don’t make ‘man made’ things your scapegoat.
I’m likely going to cut down on my consumption of coke zero nonetheless to a can a day.. and eventually every other day. I drank it as a way to stave off my sweet tooth, and it worked. You tell me what is more dangerous, the 35lbs extra weight I had, or the coke zero? Guess what, only one of those things has clear scientific evidence as being bad, and it’s not the one in a can.
Your welcome anytime to come on over and drink a Coke Zero together.
I have tasted the Diet Chocolate Cherry Dr. Pepper. I am a Dr. Pepper lover but that was terrible.
Tracy, drink WATER! you need lots of water to flush out your kidney’s. sounds like your drinking to much soda and not enough good ole water which flushes out your system. I would lay off the diet soda for a while and see if it gets better.
jedanna, do your research!! use your computer and google all the artificial sweeteners and you’ll educate yourself. the hardest part is accepting the info and figuring out what else to drink!! it’s hard to give up. or just go back to the sugar stuff but limit how much you drink.
Be VERY careful. Anything in excess can not be good.
Your mom is probably addicted to her diet coke but you don’t have to be. Get off the Coke Zero and switch to something more healthy. There are a lot of alternatives. I LOVE flavored seltzer waters. Winn Dixie sells them in lime, orange, lemon,…. Get the kind with zero calories- satisfy’s like a soda.
Just because your not sick now does not mean your not going to get a cancer one day that may be linked to all the artificial sweeteners. Do you want to take that chance? Your so young- take good care of yourself!
After reading some of these posts, I researched all diet drinks and not one said these artificial sweeteners we’re safe to consume!!! Why in the hell do they put this man made crap in our food and drink???
The only safe way to go is drink water or juice. Heck, I’d rather drink a beer than this stuff.
DO NOT give this stuff to children. It’s better for them to have real sugar than artificial sweeteners.
Believe me- I love diet coke but just can’t justify drinking it after reading about how bad they are for ones health. This coke zero has two types of fake sugars and after researching it- scared the hell out of me! Health should always come first.
Mki might have meant that it is ‘suicide’ to consume zero sugar drinks becuse of aspartame being considered a carcinogenic.
I mean it’s illegal for the companies to lie on their labels, sorry I was a little vague in my first comment.
It is highly illegal in this country to lie about nutrition facts. Please stop spreading your ignorance.
please explain how you KNOW all this stuff is so bad for you!
You only need carbon dioxide to make anything fizzy, not sugar.
This is about coke and its offshoots, why are you all being rude to one another. You sound like a bunch of kids throwing their toys out of the cot. Grow up and stick to the topic.
This talk is about COKE and its offshoots. Why are you ball so rude to one another. You sound like a bunch of kindergarten kids throwing their toys out of the cot. Stick to the subject.
I actually like normal coke better than diet coke because it tastes weird and unnormal
And Do YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THEY PUT IN IT TO MAKE IT FIZZY AGAIN CAUSE THEY NEED SUGAR TO MAKE IT FIZZY?!?!?!
Um, it has no calories, so good luck getting obese from it.
Dodobird, there are many studies which show that diet soda drinkers gain more weight than non-diet soda drinkers. Obviously, it’s not from calories in the drink. But the researchers believe that drinking the diet beverages causes sugar cravings.
my mom is addicted to diet coke! she gets the hugeee 7/11 cups full of it everyday, and it makes me mad cuz i know all of that diet coke everyday couldnt possibly be good for you, she wont listen to anyone though, thats just my mom (: she is healthy though, whoever said diet coke and coke zero can lead to obessity and cancer, idk about that. i dont know everything cuz im only 15. but my FAVORITE soft drink is deffinitly coke zero! i LOVE it! i do drink alot of and im not fat at all and im perfectly healthy. so you cant let all these comments get to you, just do what you want and know some of the consequences(if there are any)and if you notice yourself getting unhealthy or whatever because of these drinks, just cut some slack on them. but anyways, COKE ZERO ROCKSSS! (: i hope this made sense and people read it.
Wow ur smart. Not. Zero and diet have LESS sugar
Takes one to know one. Nice pancreas.
The part of the brain that is damaged by excitotoxins is the part that is concerned with self preservation. The only way you can be sure if your mind is not being affected is to for one month remove all synthetic substances from your diet. Eat only whole foods, sweetened and salted from nature. Then come back to this article, re-read it and decide if constant exposure to a bubbly drink is an equal trade-off for brain function. I am not anti-softdrink, I am an American not a commie and d@mmit i drink Coca-Cola as any loyal American should, but I will not hand my grey matter over to be soaked in a waste product that was philandered onto the market by Donald Rumsfeld.
They’re your precious bodily fluids, its up to you to preserve them.
I believe the negative “rumors” about aspartame. I have personal experience concerning my loss of memory. I became type 1.5 diabetic (autoimmune origin) in 1987 at age 22. I used products containing aspartame until about 2000-2001. Over the years, I had gotten to where I could not remember people’s names. My memory recall was improved two weeks after I stopped using it. There is an interesting story on how these products were approved by the FDA, without thorough testing. On article was called, “Nutrapoison”. There are many other articles posted on the internet; you just have to do a little searching. Spenda is not any better – it has a chemical structure similar to DDT (insecticide). By the way, aspartame chemically digests in your body to formaldehyde (embalming fluid)!