PepsiCo to Drop Aspartame From Diet Pepsi

[icyfroth]

PepsiCo said it would switch to sucralose, a less controversial but still artificial sweetener. The beverage giant said the change—the boldest soda reformulation since Coca-Cola's New Coke fiasco—was in response to consumer surveys showing aspartame as the No. 1 reason Americans are shunning diet colas.

The new sweetener is a blend of sucralose and acesulfame potassium that will be used in Diet Pepsi, Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi and Wild Cherry Diet Pepsi in the U.S. beginning in August. The new sweetener formulation “was developed after extensive research and testing with U.S. diet cola drinkers,” the company said.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a public health group and soft drink critic, said Friday that, while consumers should still avoid acesulfame potassium, more commonly known as Ace K, sucralose is “likely’’ a safer sweetener than aspartame. It cited past studies suggesting aspartame had caused tumors in rats, and said tests in the 1970s flagged Ace K as a potential cancer risk.

Coke and Pepsi have both been trying to solve the diet sweetener problem for years. Pepsi tweaked Diet Pepsi a couple of years ago to a blend that retained aspartame but mixed it with acesulfame potassium.

They have both spent heavily in recent years trying to develop zero-calorie sweeteners that can be marketed as natural, not artificial. Each has placed bets on stevia, which is derived from a plant but can leave a bitter aftertaste.

Coke and Pepsi rolled out cola variations sweetened with stevia in the U.S. last year, but mixed in sugar, turning them into mid-calorie colas instead of diet colas.

Entire Article Here

Again the aluminium connection:

Artificial Chemical Sweeteners - Grocery Warning

Making matters worse, soft drink companies put their liquid products containing aspartame in containers made of aluminum.

When this aluminum - a known neurotoxin - is combined with aspartame, the results are multiplied:

In the case of diet drinks in aluminum cans, the very brain-toxic aluminum fluoride compound co-exists with multiple toxins found in aspartame, thus creating the most powerful government-approved toxic soup imaginable. With the strong association between aluminum, excitotoxins, aluminum fluoride complexes and Alzheimer’s disease, it would be completely irresponsible to encourage people to consume this toxic mixture.

Yet, this is done literally billions of times every year in advertising. It is important to remember that the aluminum can has been around for only about three decades, and most toxin-related diseases take years of accumulation to produce the full clinical expression of the disorder.
-Russell Blaylock, M.D., Health and Nutrition Secrets That Can Save Your Life

[siggie-reported-by-alarmists]

Aspartame has been found to be safe for human consumption by more than ninety countries worldwide.