Canyon Ranch (Arizona)

The world's largest soft-drink companies are taking the hint from health-conscious consumers and developing new products that are allegedly better for us. Is "healthy soft drink" an oxymoron? According to nutritionists, that's exactly what it is, but that doesn't stop the beverage industry from trying to lure consumers with promises of health benefits.

The biggest cola company of them all now offers a diet-plus drink with the same ingredients as its regular diet drink (carbonated water, caramel color, aspartame, phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate, natural flavors, citric acid and caffeine) plus 15 percent of the recommended dietary allowance of niacin, vitamins B6 and B12, zinc and magnesium. Another soft-drink giant has rolled out an artificially sweetened, "non-caffeinated, adult sparkling beverage" containing 10 percent of the adult RDA of vitamins B3, B6 and E and chromium.

These products are part of an industry trend. Also recently launched: a sparkling green tea that "burns calories," sodas made with "natural sugars," and a fizzy fruit drink with omega-3 fatty acids.

Industry analysts see these products as an acknowledgement by the soft-drink industry that it must either get on the health-and-wellness bandwagon or lose customers. In fact, the market for soda is shrinking: In 2005, the amount of soda sold in the U.S. dropped for the first time in recent history. While soft-drink manufacturers are hedging their bets by acquiring popular bottled water and tea brands, executives are also trying to figure out how to sell soda to an increasingly health-conscious public. One beverage giant's website, for example, is full of talk about the importance of hydration. Vitamin-laced soft drinks are another attempt to make soft drinks seem healthier.

But do these new products offer any health benefits?

No, according to nutritionists: The idea of drinking soda to get vitamins makes no logical sense. You'd have to drink seven cans of that new diet-plus drink to get the RDA of what looks like a pretty random selection of nutrients.

The best place to get vitamins and minerals is from a balanced selection of whole foods, where they occur in amazingly synergistic combination with other necessary nutrients, phytochemicals and fiber. It's becoming clearer all the time that when you tease the vitamins out and consume them in isolation they simply do not have the same benefits as when they're part of a balanced diet.

And if you feel you need added nutrients, your best choice is a high-quality vitamin and mineral supplement.

Kidding ourselves?
What we're seeing is the soft-drink industry trying to help people kid themselves. This was the message with diet sodas - "This has no calories, so when you drink it you're watching your weight and doing something good for yourself." But you're not.

In fact, soft drinks - vitamin-fortified or not - are a nutritional disaster, whether they're sweetened with sugar, high-fructose corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. Consumption of large amounts of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup directly contributes to the development of obesity, insulin resistance and type-2 diabetes, and the safety of artificial sweeteners remains controversial.

Recent European research has linked aspartame consumption to high rates of lymphoma, leukemia and other cancers in rats; other studies have found no such correlation. Another artificial sweetener, sucralose, apparently causes enlarged livers and kidneys in laboratory animals. Most past studies of the safety of artificial sweeteners in this country have been financed by the food industry.

What is certain is that aspartame causes headaches, dizziness and other neurological symptoms in sensitive people.

The extra-sweet tooth
Whether or not artificial sweeteners directly cause disease, excessively sweet products have created a demand for over-sweetness that has helped distort the American diet.

Many people's sense of taste has been altered and desensitized by these over-sweet drinks, and it can be quite difficult for such individuals to make positive dietary changes. It takes a while for them to get to the point where an apple tastes sweet again.

Soft drinks are especially bad for children, as the wider culture has begun to realize. On top of their other drawbacks, they tend to replace low-fat milk and other nutrition-rich foods and beverages that children need to grow.

Because of the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles - not just poor diet but also lack of physical activity - we are raising the first generation of children in this country whose average life expectancy is shorter than that of their parents. We used to call type-2 diabetes 'adult-onset diabetes,' but we can't do that any more because now children are developing it.

The savvy consumer
It remains to be seen whether American consumers will fall for the soda makers' latest marketing ploy.

People increasingly want things to be healthy and natural and the soda makers know that. But the public is also becoming more knowledgeable and skeptical about such claims - and that's a good thing.

Nutritionists recommend that you make water your beverage of choice.
For variety, you can:
- Add sliced lemon or lime
- Mix in a teaspoon of concentrated 100% fruit syrup, such as black cherry
- Use plenty of ice - cold water tastes better
- Make tea with it, and add a sprig of fresh spearmint

Children love a sweet and fizzy mix of half carbonated (seltzer) water and half 100% fruit juice. You may, too.

www.canyonranch.com
(800) 742-9000