Coca-Cola adds fizz to fighting the flab

[T_i_B]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1426365,00.html

The company behind the world's most famous brand has seen the future and it contains phytosterol. The Observer has learnt that Coca-Cola is preparing to target consumers with a new range of health drinks containing this obscure plant extract, which has started to earn a strong following in the scientific community thanks to its cholesterol-reducing properties.

The move is seen as Coca-Cola's response to mounting obesity concerns which have seen the popularity of its carbonated drinks slide in recent years. McDonald's has already offered 'healthy options' and salads on its menus, and Pepsi last week announced that it was moving into the 'smoothie' market for healthy fruit-based drinks.

Coca-Cola has long wanted to move into 'functional foods', the burgeoning range of products that promise a myriad health and lifestyle advantages, from increased alertness to reducing hot flushes associated with the menopause.

'It's a common trend among producers of consumer goods. People are more concerned about their health, have increasing amounts of disposable income, but less time to do healthy things. So the idea is to switch to drinks that give people the impression of being healthy without having to do anything more than open a can,' Band said.

[flygal]

1. My husband and I were just arguing about this

He's an optimist and believes that corps are going to make things healthier, more environmentally friendly. I'm a pesimist and just see them taking the easy way out.

But, maybe he's on to something. The more education people get and realize how harmful all that sugar, fat, etc. is they will demand it and corps will change.

I did notice at McDonalds a lot of parents chosing the fruit over fries and drinking bottled water. Too bad we can't just have healty tap water - but I digress...

[Deja Q]

2. Yeah, fruit with that fat and sugar-loaded dip...

So long as nobody consumes the dip, then it's healthy.

But it's still one big McJoke if people can't buy fruit from the grocer's and chop it up themselves, which is far cheaper for a start,,,

[FloridaPat]

4. My proble with fruit - you can't buy fruit with taste in a grocery store.

When was the last time you opened a Hershey bar and it was bad? I have seen 2 in my lifetime. When was the last time you bought fruit and it had no taste. Or you let it "ripen" and it rotted before it got edible? Our food in this country is horrible. I once bought a steak that had no taste. How does one take taste out of a steak?

[Ilsa]

9. I think part of the problem has to do with buying produce in season.

I'm not saying this is your problem with finding good fruit, because I know sometimes it is a timing issue and a regional issue. Sometimes i think the stuff they make available off-season tastes like a tennis ball, so I don't even bother, no matter how cheap it is.

One might think that since we are able to ship food farther and faster, we'd all have a more varied diet, right? I've heard that the reverse has happened: Because we are able to ship produce more easily these days, people are more likely to stick only with the fruits and vegetables they are comfortable with (favorites) and ignore the rest.

If you are in FL, I would think there would be some good fruit you could find, at least along the lines of citrus, etc.

[zalinda]

5. It may be far cheaper, but

many people don't know how to pick fruit. And even those that do, may not have time to do the shopping. And some stores just don't carry good produce. I know that the closest grocery store here, has hit or miss produce choices, sometimes pretty good, most times average and sometimes no flavor at all.

On the other hand, my favorite store (2 to 3 times the distance from me) goes out of it's way to find produce which is flavorful. They have contracts with local growers and is big enough that farmers want to keep the contracts.

Then you have the single person.... Buying all the different types of fruit for a fruit salad is just wasteful unless you can eat all the fruit in 2 days.

So healthy options are welcome, even from fast food. And this is the way to change the way people eat, one small step at a time.

zalinda

[MAlibdem]

10. its up to consumer demands to get better products

so education is definitely key.

[Lady Effingbroke]

3. "...have increasing amounts of disposable income..."

:smoke: :smoke: :smoke:

[cliss]

6. Isn't that funny.

Coca-cola....trying to make its products good for us. I'd like to see them push that concept.

When most of us know that grade-school experiment....you take a cup of Coke and put a tooth in the cup. Within 2 days, the tooth is dissolved.

There is NOTHING worse for our health than carbonated soft drinks. Researchers have discovered that obese kids guzzle the stuff, and that's why they're fat. It's the fructose syrup that's the culprit.

Coca-Cola will never be anything but BAD for you. It'll never touch my lips, regardless of their "healthy" additives.

[arwalden]

7. FALSE. Coca-Cola Does Not Dissolve A Tooth Overnight

http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/tooth.asp

<snip>

All such claims ignore a few salient points:

Coca-Cola will not dissolve a tooth (or a nail, or a penny, or a piece of meat) overnight.

Coca-Cola contains acids (such as citric acid and phosphoric acid) which will eventually dissolve items such as teeth (given enough time), but so do plenty of other substances we commonly ingest (such as orange juice). The concentration of acid in these products is so low that our digestive systems are easily capable of coping with it with no harm to us.

The idea that any substance which can dissolve teeth must therefore damage our teeth if we drink it is nonsensical. We don't hold drinks in our mouths for days at a time — any liquids we drink simply wash over our teeth very briefly, and our teeth are further protected by their enamel coating and the ameliorating effects of saliva.

[NYC]

8. The IMPRESSION of being healthy,

So the idea is to switch to drinks that give people the impression of being healthy without having to do anything more than open a can,' Band said.

I think they are just giving people the impression, not the health.

[daleo]

11. 8 teaspoons of sugar, in a ten ounce coke.

So I have heard anyway. It is pretty hard to get a healthy product out of that base, no matter what you add to it.