I have reactive hypoglycemia, so I have to stay away from stuff with a high refined sugar content.
I used to just plain stay away from soda, because I find aspartame nasty. However, lately, they have less aspartame, and more acesulfame and Splenda, and taste a lot better than they used to, so I’ve been buying them occasionally.
My question is why the caffeinated ones remain so nasty-tasting, to me, anyway, but things like Diet Sprite, Root Beer, and Ginger Ale, are actually pretty good. They taste different from the ones with sugar, and I’d never mistake one for the other, but they don’t taste bad.
I know caffeine is bitter, so I guess caffeinated drinks would need a little more sweetener, but do they really need so much more that there doesn’t seem to be a way of making the artificially sweetened ones taste OK? The sugar-sweetened ones don’t seem to have tons more sugar in the regular as opposed to the decaf versions.
Maybe it’s the total taste profile and cannot be reduced to a single ingredient like caffeine. I find sugar-free Red Bull more palatable than Coke Zero, even though it has more caffeine. Sugar-free tonic water is terrible, and that has no caffeine at all, though of course it contains quinine. Another example is just black espresso coffee. The good stuff tastes smooth, even though it is loaded with caffeine, while the cheap stuff tastes burnt and bitter and nasty.
Personally, I like the fizzy bubbles and dislike artificial sweeteners and sugar itself. Buying carbonated water avoids the problem entirely.
Yeah, I’d agree it’s just personal taste preferences. I can’t stand Diet Sprite or Sprite Zero, or Diet Mountain Dew. I don’t like Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, but I’ll drink them if they’re the only “diet” option available. I don’t mind Coke Zero or Pepsi Zero as much. I think Cherry Coke Zero, Cherry Pepsi Zero, and Diet Dr. Pepper are ok. I still prefer the sugar versions, but I drink those three a lot. And I actively enjoy Gold Peak Diet Tea - I genuinely can’t tell it’s a diet drink. I don’t think the caffeine content of any of those has anything to do with how “diet” it tastes to me.
The milligrams of caffeine in soda probably gives little bitterness in comparison to the amount of sweetness. I’m no expert but wouldn’t think it would require yet more sweetness. There is caffeine in coffee and tea and cola - but also some root beers, and surprises like 7up, Sprite, Mt. Dew, and plenty of others. (Might differ by countries or diet/zero formulation).
Some people think some sweeteners have a bitter aftertaste and don’t like them. Might be that, not the caffeine. I’ve had bad experiences with “expired” diet soda when the sweetener breaks down.
Of course, Diet Pepsi is always super fizzy even if the company had the nerve to deny this to Cecil Adams himself.
Be careful, be very careful. It turns out that there are taste buds in the intestines and they react to artificial sweetener the same way they react to sugar by triggering the release of insulin and that might make your hypoglycemia worse. Talk to a professional (which I’m not) about this.
FWIW, the only diet soda I liked was A&W diet root beer and I’ve stopped drinking that.
Hasn’t happened so far. I have a list of foods to avoid on an empty stomach, a list of foods to avoid entirely, and a list of foods to eat only in moderation. Diet soda isn’t on any of the lists, although sugary soda is on the list to avoid entirely.
FWIW …
I’m definitely T-2 diabetic but in real good control. Due mostly to rigorous eating with nil sugar & very low simple carbs.
I find that ordinary Coke would tear me up hyperglycemically with just an ounce or two. I have zero glycemic reaction high or low to Coke Zero. And can barely tell them apart by taste.
My experience with regular Pepsi & Pepsi Max is the same.
Back in the carefree days pre-diabetes I preferred Coke over Pepsi though I didn’t have either one very often. Nowadays I’ll enjoy a 12 oz Coke Zero maybe once a week. But that low consumption is all about having mostly lost my desire for sweet-tasting things, not out of any glycemic concerns.
FWIW, YMMV, Consult your own physician, Professional driver on closed course, Do not attempt, etc.
Good luck finding something you like that works for you.
Many of you should count your blessings that you didn’t experience diet sodas in the 70’s when they had saccharin in them.
They were just awful. The first moment had a sweetness to it but then a bitter aftertaste hit like a punch to the throat. Even the worst diet sodas today are multitudes better than what was available 40+ years ago.
When I want a hit of battery acid (and surprisingly, sometimes I do) I’ll drink Diet Coke from a bottle. Most of the time I drink Diet Pepsi from a bottle. Coke Zero tastes so bland (and syrupy) to me that I don’t see the point in drinking it.
I used to drink a lot of diet A&W root beer, especially in the evening when I didn’t want to drink caffeine, but it has a lot of salt in it, which I apparently got sensitized to. Can’t drink it now.
Have you tried different colas with different formulas and artificial sweeteners? Like Coke Zero and Pepsi Zero Sugar tastes more like sugar-sweet to my taste buds than Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, though I prefer the “drier” taste of the latter group. The ones that I find taste more like sugar are the ones with ace K in conjunction with another sweetener (like aspartame) than straight-up aspartame (which is what Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi have, though the latter went through a sucralose/Splenda phase, as well. Also, the newer Diet Cokes that come in the slimmer cans and are flavored contain an aspartame/ace K blend.)