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Comment by joosters | Hacker News Reader

Aren't they used already, e.g. Diet Coke vs Coke Zero? I thought the difference between the two was in the sweeteners used. (No idea which, if any, are 'better')

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Diet Coke is New Coke with artificial sweetener instead of sugar. Coke Zero is Coca Cola Classic with artificial sweetener instead of sugar.

Slight correction:

Diet Coke preceded and persisted after "New Coke", so New Coke was Diet Coke with sugar (HFCS) instead of artificial sweetener.

Coke Zero uses aspartame.

To me aspartame tastes bitter and metallic, not sweet. Diet soda is undrinkable.

The main breakdown products of aspartame are aspartic acid and phenylalanine. You may have been born with a genetic mutation that makes it possible for you to taste phenylalanine, which tastes bad.

As a completely anecdotal fact with zero scientific value, I think i am among the people that can taste aspartame.

It also gives me headaches, to the point the rare occasions I drink soda, I rather have HFCS than aspartame.

I hadn't heard about this before. Are there any published studies on aspartame breakdown and taste?

It seems impressive that aspartame would be broken down quickly enough in the mouth to reliably produce a bad taste.

Once you get used to it that goes away. Regular coke tastes really weird if I have been drinking diet for a while and the same happens if I switch to diet from regular. I'm pretty sure they are all bad for you regardless.

Likewise. To me, it's like getting my mouth coated by an oil slick, and then it's all I can taste for an hour. I can't understand how anyone could stand it.

I get a slight metallic taste from Coke Zero. However I find that Diet Coke leaves me with cotton mouth, so I switched to Zero.

I used to drink Coke regularly but I was advised to stop for health reasons. I'm not morbidly obese or anything however I have a couple of medical problems that can be solved by losing a few kilos :) I don't tend to ingest a lot of sugar from other areas so switching to a non-sugar soft-drink was a no brainer.

My understanding, when they made diet coke they couldn't replicate the flavor of coke that well, so diet coke is based on an entirely different formula. Coke zero is supposed to be coke without sugar.

What sweetener is used in Diet Coke and Coke Zero varies by country. In some countries they use the same sweeteners, in others they differ.

Coke Zero has less caffeine - not zero, but the same amount as original Coke, while Diet Coke has almost 50% more.

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