Coke + Vitamins?

As the Super bowl was yesterday, I feel now is no better time to talk about coke, soda, pop- whatever you like to call it. Last year the marketing geniuses at Coca-Cola released a new drink called Diet Coke Plus. What does the plus stand for you ask? Jumping on the bandwagon of a more “health conscious” America, Coke decided to “fortify” its diet coke with vitamins B6, B12, and zinc. However, according to the FDA, there are certain criteria that must be met in order to put the “plus” word on a food label. Unfortunately Coke’s Diet Coke Plus did not meet those criteria. Because it mislabeled its product the FDA issued a warning to Coca-Cola telling them they must fix this mistake immediately. Coke responded by saying that “We take seriously the issues raised by the FDA in its letter”.

If you visit Coke’s website for the product (link here: http://www.dietcoke.com/) it says that it contains 15% of your RDI for niacin, B6, B12 and 10% for zinc and magnesium. The FDA often does not closely scrutinize the vitamin claims that are made on many products, but because of the popularity of coke it chose to step in and closely evaluate the claims that were being made by the company. Oddly enough, the plus drink has a higher amount of caffeine than the regular diet coke- so much for healthy!