Published: October 19, 2007 04:23 pm            

Drink your vitamins?

Dietitian: Go for foods rich in vitamins, rather than new vitamin-enriched sodas

JOPLIN, Mo. — Americans demand a lot from the soft-drink industry. In order for even a dollar to leave their pocket, they expect the manufacturer to create something that looks good, is marketed well and above all tastes good.

But do they expect soft-drink executives to provide them with a carbonated beverage that is good for them as well? Apparently so.

The average American consumes 52 gallons of soda each year. Despite that figure, both Coke and Pepsi experienced decreased sales in diet soda for the 2006 fiscal year.

The three leaders of the beverage market — namely PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and Cadbury Schweppes — faced the challenge of finding new ways to boost their products, leading to the creation of the “vitamin enhanced” diet sodas.

‘Health and wellness brands’

Almost immediately after Coke announced Diet Coke Plus earlier this year, Pepsi announced that it planned to introduce Tava, its version of vitamin soda, this fall.

Of course, the new vitamin-packed drinks aren’t being marketed as soda at all, but as “sparkling beverages.”

Executives hope the term will help people overlook the negative connotations that some might have of soda and other sugar-filled drinks.

E. Neville Isdell, the CEO of Coke, told The New York Times earlier this year that “diet and light brands are actually health and wellness brands,” arguing that his diet products should be included in the health and wellness category because, with few or no calories, they are a logical answer to expanding waistlines.

An 8-ounce serving of Diet Coke Plus claims that it delivers 15 percent of your recommended daily intake of Niacin, B6 and B12, while providing 10 percent of your zinc and magnesium allowance.

Pepsi’s Tava, on the other hand, is caffeine free and provides 10 percent of your daily B and E vitamins as well as chromium, a mineral some studies have linked to boosting a person’s metabolism.

Advertised as merely good for you, makers of the various drinks are careful to avoid making any health claims in conjunction with their products.

Promotional tool

Shannon Linder, a registered dietitian with Freeman Health System, says consumers shouldn’t go out of their way to purchase these enhanced soft drinks.

“All the vitamins and minerals added to these products are ones we already get in our normal diets from things like meat and vegetables,” she said. “Added nutrients aren’t always absorbed by the body in the same way as those found naturally in foods.”

Like almost all health advocates, Linder stresses the importance of following the FDA food pyramid, focusing on consuming foods that are rich in natural nutrients while minimizing the intake of fatty and sugar-filled foods.

Vitamin-enhanced soft drinks don’t hold a spot on the pyramid.

“Adding vitamins to products is really more promotional than anything,” Linder said. “Consumers should concentrate on making real life changes instead of buying into endorsed products like those of Coke and Pepsi.”

First fortified

The first vitamin-fortified soda was produced by Cadbury Schweppes in 2004: 7UP Plus. Makers claim that the drink is fortified with calcium (about 10 percent of the recommended daily intake), vitamin C, fruit juice (5 percent apple juice) and sweetened with Splenda.



Valerie Melton writes for The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.

        

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