There are a lot of food and beverage products sold with all sorts of added vitamins and minerals etc. Breakfast cereals are what comes to mind the most, but milk and orange juice are also frequently additionally fortified with added vitamins (e.g. Vitamin D, calcium (in the case of OJ)). Apparently it doesn’t really affect either the price or the taste of these products. While there is considerable question as to how beneficial these added vitamins are (mostly relating to the extent to which they get absorbed by the body, I believe) they seem to be working as a selling point, at least.
My question is why Coke and Pepsi et al don’t try the same thing for their products. They get an enormous amount of flak over their high sugar zero nutrients products, and it would seem that they might alleviate some of it and possibly boost the appeal of their product by tossing in a bunch of vitamins and then advertising the heck out of it. I can think of a few possibilities, offhand.
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[li]The other vitamin-added products are starting from a different point, in that they already have some nourishment value, while these soft drinks are starting from zero. The key difference here is that the market purchasing the latter products is relatively unconcerned about the vitamin content, as compared to breakfast cereals which are at least intended to provide nourishment for kids. Similar for milk and OJ. As a result, the marketing value of adding nutrients to Coke and Pepsi is less than for the other products.[/li][li]Conversely, the market for soft drinks is possibly more sensitive to small changes in taste than the market for the other products, since taste is what these products are all about. It’s possible that the vitamins do change the taste in small ways, but that the plus in the case of the other products outweighs the negatives, while it does not for soft drinks.[/li][li]The other products tend to cost a lot more than Coke and Pepsi. As a result, the added cost of adding these additional vitamins is easier to absorb for these products than would be the case for soft drinks.[/li][/ul]
I think to myself if Pepsi came out with a vitamin fortified product I would give it a serious shot (I drink about a can a day as it is) but I’ve never heard such a suggestion.
Here is a March 2007 New York Times article (paywall warning) about sodas (marketed as “sparkling beverages”) from Coke and Pepsi with added vitamins. The fact that these products aren’t being sold anymore should tell you the probable answer; they didn’t sell.
They already do manufacture nutrient-added drinks (e.g. the Coca-Cola company’s Vitaminwater). This is not necessarily a good thing: 5 Reasons Why Vitaminwater Is a Bad Idea. As the linked article notes, the added nutrients are unneeded by most people and may actually be harmful if you get too much of them.
Other answers to your question may be more speculative and IMHO. For example, adding nutrients to soft drinks might change their image in ways that could hurt sales. People think about “good-for-you” foods and beverages differently from “fun” or “refreshing” or “satisfying” foods and beverages.
Diet Coke Plus was produced in two different variants, one fortified with vitamins B3, B12, and vitamin C, and the other with green tea, antioxidants and vitamin C. It was discontinued in 2011.
Diet Pepsi Max was produced and is still sold (until 2009, when it was re-branded as “Pepsi Zero Sugar”), but is fortified not with vitamins but with caffeine and competes in the energy drink market.
I don’t think those are the same thing I’m talking about. I didn’t read the link (paywall) but it sounds like those were not versions of Coke and Pepsi with only some additional vitamins. Rather, completely new products which happened to be manufactured by the same companies which also manufacture Coke and Pepsi. There could be any number of reasons why those new products didn’t sell. Possibly they didn’t taste good, for starts.
But even if there was a vitamin fortified version of C & P which didn’t sell (I see that DCnDC is suggesting this in the case of Diet Coke Plus), that would leave the question" why didn’t they sell?" which is essentially the same question as the OP, and the range of possible answers would likely overlap.
Last time I was in Japan I came across a “Coca Cola Plus” that has added soluble fibers, and promoted as being more healthy. I don’t know if it is still available.
I think in general, there is very little intersection between people who buy soft drinks and people who buy foods that are advertised as being healthy.
I think it’s as simple as the smartwater drinkers and the coke drinkers are two different crowds. Soda drinkers drink for enjoyment and are not looking for health benefits and any hint of a changed formula puts them off.
This is a lot of it. The drink makers have each invested in the different types of drinks, sugary sodas and ‘healthier’ fruit drinks, teas, and flavored waters. Adding vitamins to the sugary sodas will just cut into their sales of the drinks they sell as being healthy.
I vaguely recall that once upon a time adding vitamins to junk food was illegal. The last thing any public health department wants is those marginally educated about nutrition thinking that “I don’t need a balanced diet, I can eat just chocolate and get all my nutrition from Diet Coke!” It’s enough of an issue today that a lot of people do not have a well-balanced diet. If they misunderstand advertising that could be (un)intentionally misleading to think their diet problems are taken care of, then the government will end up paying the price in the long run. Plus, there’s the issue as mentioned above of possible overdosing of vitamins.
This is likely the biggest part of the reason (along with “we tried it once, and it didn’t sell”). Sales of traditional carbonated soft drinks in the U.S. have been declining for years – in 2017, sales of Coke-branded sodas declined by 2%, and Pepsi sales declined by 4.5%. That’s not just a one-year drop; those numbers are indicative of a longer-term trend that’s been going on for a decade or longer.
Younger consumers, in particular, are drinking all sorts of things that aren’t soda – coffee, tea, bottled water, etc. Those who are interested in healthier beverages have probably already made the switch to water or tea or something (and just adding vitamins to soda probably isn’t going to attract many of them to switch back); those who are sticking it out with soda don’t need added vitamins to get them to stay.
Plus, adding vitamins adds to the cost of the product, and might possibly affect the flavor negatively.
Dr. Enuf, which is sold in Northeastern TN, Southwestern VA, and NW North Carolina, has been vitamin fortified since they started making it in (I think) the forties. It says “Rich in Vitamins” right on the label.
A can of Red Bull contains Vitamins B3, B5, B6, and B12 along with sugar, caffeine, and taurine. I guess they just use such ingredients for their flavor and/or colour when appropriate, no matter the acidity or carbonation. Vitamin C has a pretty distinct flavor, too. I never heard of anyone drinking soft drinks “for their health”.
Yes, and they make a higher profit margin on the ‘healthy’ drinks than on the basic Coke/Pepsi sodas (which are nearly constantly ‘on sale!’ at the stores). So they would be cutting into the sales of their high-profit items with lower-profit items – why would they want to do that?
MiO (the “water enhancer” product) sells some flavors that are enhanced with vitamins. And some that have caffeine, and some that have electrolytes. And many that are just flavorings.
Looking at the Mountain Dew Kickstart that I’m currently drinking, I see it has 100% of the daily value of Vitamin C (and just past 100%, when it comes to Vitamin B6), along with Niacin and Pantothenic Acid.
I’m no nutritionist, but I figure one could do worse.
Hmm. I’m not so sure this is true. You don’t think any diet soda drinkers are motivated to drink diet soda because they believe they are making a healthier choice than drinking regular soda (however right or wrong that belief may be)? I’d say a fairly sizeable overlap exists between “soda drinkers” and “health conscious people”.
They have it here in Taiwan, as a diet drink. It’s more expensive than normal Coke Zero and doesn’t seem to sell well. McDonald’s has discontinued sales of it.
I think the problem is that by adding vitamins to soda drinks and marketing them as healthy, or at least healthier than the unvitaminised alternatives, you call attention to the health issues and legitimise a conversation about the health impacts of soda drinks. Which, on the whole, is not a conversation likely to prove beneficial to those who sell soda drinks.