Don't Fall for Pepsi's "Vintage" Soft Drinks

by Greg Plotkin · 2010-01-13 18:08:00 UTC
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Companies that use High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in their food and beverage products continue to take a pretty massive public relations hit as consumers begin to understand that drinking the synthesized sugar product will make them both fat and sick.

The industry most affected by this realization is soda companies, which have have relied on HFCS as a cheap source of added sweetness.  Astonishingly, the consumption of these beverages accounts for between 5.5 and 7.1 percent of the calories in the average American diet.

In order to provide consumers a healthier soft drink option, Pepsi has recently announced that it will be producing "throwback" sodas that contain real sugar instead of HFCS.

This may seem like an attempt at corporate responsibility (snicker), but it's really an economic response to market flucuations.  Many soft drink companies began using HFCS in the first place because it was a cheap alternative to using real sugar.  However, the price gap between the two products has almost disappeared, driving many companies once again to use natural sugar to sweeten their beverages.

I urge all you conscious consumers out there to take Michael Pollan's advice and not be fooled by this marketing ploy, especially considering that each can of this "vintage" soda still contains eight teaspoons of sugar.  Soda is soda and sugar is sugar, no matter what form it's in.

Photo credit: uberzombie

Greg Plotkin is the Coordinator of Farm Camp at Flying Pigs Farm in Washington County, New York.
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