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Coca-Cola is using the HeroX crowd-sourcing platform to hold a $1 million competition for a new sugar substitute:
"Sugar is now the number one item that consumers want to avoid in their diets," says Darren Seifer, a food and beverage industry analyst with the NPD Group. The message to consume less is coming from health experts around the globe.
It's a challenge for the beverage industry, as is the fact that many consumers don't like the idea of artificial sweeteners found in diet drinks. So, the search for new, alternative sweeteners that can appeal to consumers' changing tastes is in full swing. And Coca-Cola has turned to crowd-sourcing.
The company has launched a competition on the crowd-sourcing platform HeroX. According to this description on Coca-Cola's corporate website, Coke is seeking "a naturally sourced, safe, low- or no-calorie compound that creates the taste sensation of sugar when used in beverages." The company says, "one grand prize winner will be awarded $1 million in October 2018."
So, can scientists come up with this kind of sweetener? "Well, this is a hundred-million dollar question, because it's so difficult and so potentially lucrative," says Paul Breslin, a professor in the nutritional sciences department at Rutgers University and a member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center.
Hang on, is it a one million dollar question or a hundred-million dollar question? Maybe I should get Silicon Valley to fund my sugar substitute instead of Coca-Cola.
Related: Coca-Cola Pulls Twitter Campaign after being Tricked into Quoting "Mein Kampf"
Twitter Monetizes By Adding Coca-Cola Emoji (where is our sponsored emoji?)
How Coca Cola's 3D Times Square Advertising Sign Works
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 08 2017, @02:43PM (5 children)
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2007/08/28/diet-foods-will-cause-obesity-not-cure-it.aspx [mercola.com]
Diet Foods Will Cause Obesity, Not Cure It
August 28, 2007 • 85,138 views
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Children eating diet foods in lieu of the full-calorie versions may lead to overeating and obesity when they grow up, according to a report from the University of Alberta, Canada.
In the study, young rats were fed either a regular diet or low-calorie substitutes. The low-calorie versions led the rats to overeat, whether they were lean or genetically predisposed to obesity. Adult rats, however, did not show the same tendency to overeat.
The researchers believe that diet foods with low calorie content disrupt the body’s ability to use taste to regulate caloric intake. This would explain why older animals did not overeat, as they, unlike the younger rats, were able to rely on taste-related cues to assess the energy value of their food correctly.
Lead researcher Professor David Pierce stated, "Based on what we’ve learned, it is better for children to eat healthy, well-balanced diets with sufficient calories for their daily activities rather than low-calorie snacks or meals.”
University of Alberta August 8, 2007
BBC News August 8, 2007
Eurekalert August 8, 2007
MedicineNet.com August 8, 2007
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I've read that, and a few other similar articles. Basically, the taste of that sweetener sends a signal to your digestive system, "Here comes some energy and nutrition!!" When the energy and/or nutrition never arrive, the digestive system sends signals back to the brain, "We got cheated!! We need food quickly before we starve to death!"
False signals are almost never a good thing.
Lay off the "diet" trash, consume the sugar that you intend to consume, and your body will respond more reasonably. You won't feel the need to make up for those lost resources that you have promised your body with the sugar substitute.
If you want a low calory snack, eat some food that actually IS "low calory". Celery sticks, carrot sticks, something that is almost zero calory, but DOES NOT SIGNAL THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM THAT SWEETS ARE COMING!! Instead of anticipating the need to digest sugar, your system gets an honest signal. "Some roughage coming down, stand by while I search for better nutrition!!"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by VLM on Friday September 08 2017, @02:54PM
Its an exact analogy, on many levels, to the phenomena of "harmless" "non-addictive" medically prescribed painkillers leading eventually to heroin deaths.
Its almost not even an analogy, there's just some irrelevant differences in chemical structure of the chemicals involved. Same human reasoning and behavior and statistical outcome.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 08 2017, @03:50PM
It's true that diet foods are bad for you, but eating the full-sugar ones is no answer. The best thing is to eat those celery sticks, carrots, and what-not instead. It's tough to break out of the sugar cycle that America and some of the rest of the world are on, but once you manage it the cravings for the stuff subsides. You become happy with having a piece of fruit once in a while. A sweet treat made with stevia satisfies. Snacking on nuts or pork rinds serves the salty palate.
Soon enough your body adjusts and begins to disdain the empty, harmful filler that is processed food and to crave nutritious stuff instead. You'll be given the choice of a soft-serve icecream cone and chia pudding and choose the chia pudding instead and marvel at the creature you've become.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @11:39PM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday September 09 2017, @12:25AM (1 child)
Bloody hell - refute the information, confirm the information, or whatever. Don't whine that you think the messanger has body odor, or his cousin gave you the drip. What I hear you saying is, "That data might be interesting, but the author has cooties, so I'm not listening!" Do a search on the subject, "Diet foods cause weight gain". Better, do diet drinks.
Sugar might be considered a drug, if we define the term rather loosely. Artificial sweeteners don't need such a loose definition. They are drugs, and they tend to be addictive. In your quest to satisfy that addiction, you incidentally consume vast quantities of unhealthy calories.
The only sweetener that I know of that is demonstrably healthier than natural sugar is honey. But, wait - isn't honey just an amalgamation of natural sugars? Refined sugar, on the other hand, isn't exactly "natural".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 09 2017, @03:17PM
Actually what the previous AC said, was: "That guy has a history of talking bullshit, so I'm not going to listen to him because he may be talking bullshit again." Which isn't an unreasonable position to take, as ignoring untrustworthy sources reduces time wasted in fact checking.