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posted by martyb on Friday September 08 2017, @10:42AM   Printer-friendly
from the How-sweet-it-is! dept.

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


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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by vux984 on Friday September 08 2017, @04:08PM (1 child)

    by vux984 (5045) on Friday September 08 2017, @04:08PM (#565166)

    They do use stevia. They use it in dozens of products. Coca-Cola Life is mostly sweetened with Stevia; It's on shelves locally and has been for months; I've tried it... I'm primary coca-cola drinker in the house, and I thought it was ok, but i preferred regular coca-cola. However my wife hated it... so I'm skeptical that its going to take over, and I can see why CocaCola is still looking for something new.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca-Cola_Life [wikipedia.org]

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  • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 08 2017, @09:21PM

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Friday September 08 2017, @09:21PM (#565328) Journal

    Thanks, I'll look for that.

    FWIW it takes me about a week to get used to stevia and stop noticing its aftertaste. That's if I only have stevia and no other kind of sweetener, because your tastebuds won't adapt otherwise. If you mix regular sugar or honey or even splenda into the mix, you'll hate stevia and not want to have it.

    --
    Washington DC delenda est.