What’s the Difference Between Diet Coke and Coke Zero

We do have sugar-free cokes1, but what’s the difference between diet coke and coke zero? We hear a lot about controlling the amount of sugar in our diet. This is because sugar hardly has any nutritional value.

Moreover, according to many nutritionists, it is addictive and just a source of consuming extra calories. One common source that we consume sugar from is coke. This article includes all you need to know about Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar (also known as Coke Zero) from Coca-Cola, and what’s the difference between diet coke and coke zero.

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company was founded on 29th January 1892 and deals in the beverage industry. With over 85,000 employees, Coca-Cola specializes in manufacturing, retailing, and marketing non-alcoholic drinks and syrups and alcoholic beverages.

Coca Cola’s Famous Products

The company is famous for its soft drinks such as Fanta and a lemon or lime soft drink, Sprite. Coca-Cola also launched TaB as a calorie-free beverage2, using saccharin as a calorie-free sugar substitute. However, as Diet Coke came into the picture, the sales of TaB started dwindling. Diet Coke was another try by Coca-Cola at producing a calorie-free drink with a lighter taste.

coca cola
Image by Mike Mozart/ Flickr. Copyright 2022.

Coca-Cola also started selling healthy beverages like Minute Maid, Powerade, Dasani water, and Fruitopia. These came under the company’s new segment of non-carbonated drinks. Non-carbonated beverages are free of sodas.

C2, launched by Coca-Cola, was another low-carbohydrate beverage3 that used Aspartame, Acesulfame K, and sucralose as its main ingredients. But it was later replaced by Coca-Cola Life in 2013.

Apart from C2, Coca Cola zero sugar drinks also worked their magic on the public. Two drinks produced under this idea are Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

These original Coca-Cola drinks use caramel color and carbonated water as two ingredients, with a blend of natural flavors and sweeteners. But what’s the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar? Read on to know more.

Diet Coke

Now, let’s have a closer look at what Diet Coke is.

Obesity and weight-related issues started becoming prominent in the United States of America around the 1960s. So, many companies focused on providing consumers with sugar-free options in the beverage industry.

As a result, various sugar-free drinks were unveiled in that period. Some examples could be Diet Pepsi and TaB. Similarly, Diet Coke by Coca-Cola was launched in 1982 to satisfy the health and taste preferences of consumers.

coca cola diet coke
Image by Joe Anderson/ Flickr. Copyright 2022.

To the surprise of the creators, Diet Coke did wonders among the target audience as well as in the market! To date, Diet Coke is one of the most preferred sugar-free beverages worldwide. The company claims to have reduced 125,000 tons of added sugar through recipe changes in 2020.

Diet Coke’s nutritional information

How can coke be sugar-free? Here is an explanation for the same, with Diet Coke’s nutritional information.

Diet Coke uses phosphoric acid, carbonated water, caffeine, Aspartame, caramel color, and natural flavors as the main ingredients. The nutrition facts of these ingredients convey that Diet Coke is, in fact, a sugar-free and zero-calorie Coca-Cola classic drink. It gives 40mg sodium, zero calories, 0g protein, and zero total carbohydrates.

Potassium citrate is used as a common additive in this sugar-free soda beverage, whereas Acesulfame potassium serves as a calorie-free sugar substitute4.

Now, let’s see what’s the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

Coke Zero Sugar

Formerly known as Coke Zero, Coke Zero Sugar features sodium citrate and contains 96mg of caffeine. It also uses artificial sweeteners. Coke Zero Sugar looks and tastes like regular coke by Coca-Cola. It provides a different blend of flavors to Coke lovers. It includes citric acid, but unlike Diet Coke, it does not have Potassium citrate and Acesulfame potassium.

coke zero
Image by Mack Male/ Flickr. Copyright 2022.

Coke Zero Sugar Nutritional Information

Similar to the ingredients used in Diet Coke, it is made using Aspartame, Potassium benzoate, food additives, caramel color, and natural flavors. The nutritional value of Coke Zero Sugar reads as zero sugar, zero calories, 0.4g protein, and 0g carbohydrates.

Now you must be wondering what’s the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero exactly. Keep reading to find out what’s the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero exactly. Keep reading to find out!

What’s the Difference Between Diet Coke and Coke Zero

Let’s learn about the key difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar. Both of these fizzy drinks seem very similar in terms of nutrition and ingredients. However, not only do their ingredients differentiate, but their nutritional value differs as well.

And it is certain that your taste buds would feel these differences in taste too. While Diet Coke serves as a zero sugar diet beverage, Coke Zero Sugar tastes like a Coca-Cola regular coke, with zero sugars.

Both of these drinks have caffeine, soda, carbonated water, potassium benzoate, phosphoric acid, Aspartame, Acesulfame potassium, and potassium citrate as common ingredients. But the amount of these ingredients differ in Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar.

The amount of Acesulfame potassium and Aspartame is the same in both drinks, which results in an almost identical taste as far as sweetness is concerned.

Yet each drink has its uniqueness. While Diet Coke consists of 12.8mg of caffeine per 100ml, Coke Zero Sugar has 9.6mg of caffeine per 100ml. So, the real difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar is the number of constituents. On top of that, the taste is also a big difference.

Which One is Healthier

Now that you’re clear with what’s the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero, this remains to be one of the main questions. To be very honest, both of these drinks aren’t very healthy options for your body. But these are obviously healthier than regular coke. One of the main issues is phosphoric acid which damages the enamel of our teeth.

Hidden Facts Coke Zero vs Diet Coke - The Shocking Difference You Don’t Know About

Overall these drinks are good to enjoy, with zero calories and zero sugars, if you wish to have healthy soda drinks. We hope that this article helped you understand what’s the difference between Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar5 and provided you with the basic knowledge of each drink.

  1. Chacko, Emme, Ingrid McDuff, and Rod Jackson. “Replacing sugar-based soft drinks with sugar-free alternatives could slow the progress of the obesity epidemic: have your Coke® and drink it too.” The New Zealand Medical Journal (Online) 116.1184 (2003). ↩︎
  2. Mesirow, Maurissa SC, and Jean A. Welsh. “Changing beverage consumption patterns have resulted in fewer liquid calories in the diets of US children: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2010.” Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics 115.4 (2015): 559-566. ↩︎
  3. Ferguson-Stegall, Lisa, et al. “The effect of a low carbohydrate beverage with added protein on cycling endurance performance in trained athletes.” The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 24.10 (2010): 2577-2586. ↩︎
  4. Boileau, A., J. C. Fry, and R. Murray. “A new calorie‐free sugar substitute from the leaf of the stevia plant arrives in the UK.” (2012): 47-50. ↩︎
  5. Ma, Jiantao, et al. “Sugar-sweetened beverage, diet soda, and fatty liver disease in the Framingham Heart Study cohorts.” Journal of hepatology 63.2 (2015): 462-469. ↩︎

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