OK - I missed a meeting.
Suddenly there's a new Coke out there that I didn't know about.
I must confess at this point that Coke Zero and Diet Coke are the main spooky items on my daily diet and I have a vested interest in the latest carbonated experience put out under the Coka-Cola umbrella, being a brand endorser of some standing.
Spooky in that, apart from my craving for fizzy stuff that has a taste (there goes the soda water) I don't really know what it is that I'm drinking.
But I'm cool with that. I'm having a brand experience, dude!
Now aside from the fact that my favorite tipple (beer) doesn't have an ingredients list (how did THAT slip through the committee!) it happens that the mysterious Coke Brothers supply my entire processed beverage intake for the day. It tastes good, but what that stuff actually is I could not tell you. Hey, it's a secret recipe right? Even after they replaced the cane sugar with high fructose corn syrup...
But that's cool. Everyone has to live dangerously, and I don't smoke or eat processed foods much.
"Hey, sugar, take a walk on the wild side..."
Now I'll probably get a ticking off from the blogmaestress for tackling a bev that no self-respecting restaurant in America would have on the menu but, hey, this is a big deal for me, as I'm trying to cut down on the unhealthy things in life. Coke Plus seems like another major step forward at the ol' bottling plant. And if it catches on, Gordon Ramsey will be making desserts from it and I'll have been ahead of the curve.
So I mosey over to wikipedia.com it to find out what this is all about.
"Vitamins and Minerals"
Like the posh dog foods? Marrowbone jelly and all that good stuff???
Correct. But for the two-legged variety. Homosapiens. Us!
OK - so already we're hip. It's good for you. I'll buy it!
Wikipedia's mysterious boffin contingent have a bone-fide entry for the stuff, so let's see what they think is the most important distinction.
1. Acesulfame Potassium
Bloody hell. I was having enough trouble justifying putting Aspartame down my gullet. Now I have another long chemical lesson name to get my head around.
This is where Wiki more cosmic than an old Jefferson Airplane LP. "As with sucralose, aspartame, stevia, saccharin, xylitol and other sweeteners that are sweeter than common sugars, there is concern over the safety of acesulfame potassium. Kraft Foods has patented the use of sodium ferulate to mask acesulfame's aftertaste." Aftertaste??? As the Londoners say "Leave it out, mate..."
2. Magnesium Sulfate
"The second main ingredient in diet coke plus is magnesium sulfate" . Holy cow, we're really in a chemistry class! It's the old MgSO4ยท7H2O, commonly called Epsom salts.
Now I know this stuff from school days and a groovy little product called Andrew's Liver Salts, hangover cure extraordinaire from the UK. Brilliant stuff. Cleans out the pipes, as my granny used to say. Not sure I want too much of this in my beverage of choice but hey it's a Coke first.
But let's get back to wackypedia.
"Magnesium sulfate is used as in bath salts, particularly in flotation therapy where high concentrations raise the bath water's specific gravity, effectively making the body more buoyant."
and there's more:
"This property is also used to restore some lava lamps damaged by being shaken by exchanging the water and adding drops of a concentrated solution until sustainable buoyancy is reached." Lava Lamps? Jefferson Airplane again!
Oh, and this little gem:
"Oral magnesium sulfate, or magnesium hydroxide, is commonly used as a saline laxative. Epsom salts are also available in a gel form for topical application in treating aches and pains."
"It contains niacin, B6, B12, magnesium and zinc".
I thought that I
got my recommended daily intake from Snap Crackle and Pop.
More stuff to worry about.
Am I getting too much daily intake??
By now my mind is completely boggled and I'm struggling to understand why the trusted tasteheads at my beloved Hokey Cola have decided that this was a cool ingredient for a drink. I also realize that topic-hopping in Wikiland is hardly the best way to research a perfectly respectable beverage, but it makes you think. And think. And think.
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