Green Coca-Cola Life with stevia also with a lot of sugar

After "Coca-Cola Light" and "Coke Zero", the beverage manufacturer has now launched the "Cola Life" variant, which is prepared with the herbal sweetener Stevia and is supposed to represent a supposedly healthy alternative to the classic Coke in its green design , Other beverage companies also offer varieties with stevia, but many of these soft drinks continue to contain significant amounts of sugar, according to a recent market check by the Verbraucherzentrale Niedersachsen.

"Despite the healthy image that trend drinks are missed by advertising or green labels, they are not healthier or significantly lower in sugar than other soft drinks," reports the consumer center of Lower Saxony from the results of the market check. Consumer advocates warn that "even a single bottle of 0.5 liter green cola with the vegetable sweetener stevia exceeds the WHO recommended amount of sugar per day". None of the tested drinks, with or without stevia, really convinced the examiners. At the nutritional light they reached a maximum of one yellow rating, in most cases even just a red one.

Half a liter of Coca-Cola Life contains eleven cubes of sugar
The beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola promotes its new soft drink with the statement that in Coca-Cola Life a good third of the sugar (37 percent) will be replaced by stevia extract. So 100 milliliters of Coca-Cola Life would only contain 27 kilocalories. However, a classic Coca Cola comes with a whopping 54 grams or 18 cubes of sugar per 0.5 liter bottle therefore and in the Coca-Cola Life are still eleven cubes of sugar (34 grams) included, reports the consumer center of Lower Saxony. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 25 grams per day for women and 30 grams for men. These values ​​are already exceeded with a pint of Coca-Cola Life. Those who only enjoy a bottle of Coca-Cola-Life will already consume more sugar than the WHO recommends, according to Anneke von Reeken, a nutrition expert at the Verbraucherzentrale Niedersachsen. "This sugar bomb is anything but healthy," the expert continues.

All soft drinks with too high sugar content
In the current market check, the Verbraucherzentrale Niedersachsen tested eight drinks for their sugar and calorie content, three of which were marked with the addition of stevia. The soft drinks, however, could not convince all. In the rating of the consumer center using the traffic light check, the best result was a yellow. "The manufacturer fritz-kola has reduced the amount of sugar in its stevia kola by half compared to the normal fritz-kola. Instead of eleven, it contains only 5.5 cubes of sugar per 330 ml bottle and makes it from a red to a yellow traffic light, "according to the Consumer Information Center. The green coke life, however, get due to the high sugar content, a red light. It should also be remembered that especially young people drink trend drinks such as cola. However, for 12-year-olds, the WHO recommends a maximum of 22.5 grams of sugar per day, so that a single bottle of Coca-Cola Life clearly exceeds the recommended daily maximum amount of sugar.

Stevia as a sugar substitute
The stevia plant is native to Paraguay and has been cultivated in South America for two centuries. From the plant, the stevia extract is obtained as a sweetener, which is 200 times sweeter than sugar and calorie-free. In this country, the plant extract was approved in 2011 as food. Since then, various products with stevia as a sugar substitute on the market and also in the soft drink industry has done a lot. Coca-Cola is far from being the only manufacturer to rely on the plant extract with Green Coke Life. However, consumers should not believe the advertising claims of manufacturers and the presentation of products, warns the Verbraucherzentrale Niedersachsen. Only looking at the list of ingredients or nutrition information could reveal how much sugar is actually in the drinks. Here the long-demanded introduction of the nutritional value signal food, which is to be missed over the advertisement a healthy image, would quickly expose by a red light, so the conclusion of the consumer center. (Fp)

/ Span>

Picture credits: sigrid rossmann