Adian Guevara ’20

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Many people think that the popular drink Coca Cola tastes great but is too fattening. In response to this the company made a Diet version of their popular drink, which satisfied many customers. However, later the Coca Cola company made a new drink, Coke Zero.

Many people were confused because Diet Coke advertised, “no sugar, no calories” while Coke Zero advertised “zero sugar, zero calories.” This left many people wondering what the difference between the two variations of the popular beverage is. I did the research and found out, and I wanted to find out what other Strake Jesuit students thought the difference was before I told them.

The first student I asked responded that he thought Diet Coke had fewer calories but Coke Zero had no calories. He also thought that they probably had the same amount of sugar, but that he wasn’t sure. The person said that he thought that Diet Coke tastes better.

The second person that I had asked said that he thought that they were just the same product packaged under different names. He also said that although they say that they have zero calories, he does not believe that.

The actual answer is a single chemical ingedient.

Coke Zero features sodium citrate in its ingredients list, and Diet Coke has citric acid. The main difference is that Coke Zero is meant to taste like “fat Coke” while Diet Coke has its own taste. Both of the drinks are sugar and calorie free.