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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.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Friday September 08 2017, @03:12PM (3 children)
Yeah that's just not true. Sparkling water doesn't taste "horrible and bitter." Sparkling water with a little juice is very tasty stuff, far from bitter.
Of course if you bathe your taste buds in a sugary syrup, some kind of Cola for instance, THEN you've got them condition to taste ANYTHING that isn't packed full of sugar as "horrible and bitter." You just need to give your sensors a chance to recover.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by epitaxial on Friday September 08 2017, @07:22PM (1 child)
Sparkling water and seltzer taste rather unpleasant to me. The best description is salty but it's not.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @09:35PM
Some sparkling mineral waters are objectively pretty salty, indeed (not necessarily purely NaCl). Doesn't mean it's to blame on the CO2, though.
(Score: 1) by toddestan on Friday September 15 2017, @12:38AM
Sparkling water is quit bitter to me too. I can hardly stand to drink the stuff. And it's not that I'm used to colas and other sugary drinks, as ordinary water (like straight from the tap) tastes just fine to me.
Dissolving CO2 into water produces carbonic acid, so it's really no wonder that sparkling water is a bit bitter. Colas and such add tons of sugar (actually corn syrup) to compensate, but with sparkling water there's nothing to cover it up.