How can diet pop have zero calories?

Question

for example: diet coke

i know that water has zero cals, so how is it possible that something like diet coke can have zero cals also? i mean.. its a sweet brown liquid and yet it has the same nutritional value as water :S (well almost)

Answer 1

Because Coca-Cola says so.

Don't you believe what the advertisers tell you?

Thats like the poor gas companies only making 4 billion dollars a month (EACH). They using all that money to help us save money.

Answer 2

Yes, it's called artificial sweeteners.

You heard of Splenda, Sweet+Low, Equal?  They have a nasty after taste though( in my opinion).

"Artificial sweeteners are chemicals that offer the sweetness of sugar without the calories. Because the substitutes are much sweeter than sugar, it takes a much smaller quantity of them to create the same sweetness. Therefore, products made with artificial sweeteners have a much lower calorie count than do those made with sugar. Artificial sweeteners are often used as part of a weight-loss plan or as a means to control weight gain.

People with diabetes may use artificial sweeteners because they make food taste sweet without raising blood sugar levels."

Answer 3

artificial sweeteners, of course everyone keeps telling me they cause cancer, so maybe it isn't such a good tradeoff.

Answer 4

Actually diet soda's do have some caloric content from their artificial sweetners, caramel coloring, and citric acid BUT the number of calories per can is less then 1 and the FDA laws allow anything that contains less then 5 calories to be advertised as calorie free...and that is the reason why they are considered to have 0 calories.

Answer 5

Artificial sweetners and other flavors have zero calories.  It's just a flavor and it's not made from anything your body can break down and use for energy.

Answer 6

Basically it is water which has no calories, flavouring which is such a minute amount that it has no calories and artificial sweetener that has not calories. therefore no calorie diet coke. I drink it all the time I call it dirty water.

Answer 7

usually, in most sodas, aspartame gives it the sweet flavor without the calories. if it's made with splenda, it's sucralose, not aspartame, that provides the flavor. they're both chemical, but aspartame is generally regarded as less healthy for you because of its rumored connection to the development of brain lesions/tumors and lymphoma. there is also speculation that the amount of formaldehyde produced when the aspartame breaks down in the body could be dangerous. either way, it's definitely safer to stick to regular, full-calorie sodas in smaller quantities. or try to switch to drinking water instead.