Slashfood

• Coke Products Sweetened With Stevia?
  

  Filed under: Science, Business, Artificial Sugars, Soda, Food News

  
  Coca-Cola will begin selling products made with Stevia, a zero-calorie sweetener derived from an herb that's gained a following in the heath food community despite not yet being approved by the FDA. Three flavors of Odwalla juice sweetened with a Stevia product called Rebiana are expected to hit the market this week.
  
  Pepsi also has two Stevia-sweetened drinks ready for the market, but they say they won't start selling them until FDA gives Stevia the official OK. The FDA is expected to approve Stevia as "generally regarded as safe" any time now....
  



• The impossible pairing: Wine and Halloween candy
  

  Filed under: Wine, Dessert, Artificial Sugars, Candy, Champagne, High-fructose corn syrup, Holidays, Halloween, Fall

  
  If you're anything like me come October, you buy a big bag of Halloween candy, oh, three weeks before the actual holiday with the idea of "getting ahead"--only to have the entire bag mysteriously disappear, leaving you to explain to your significant other that it must have fallen into the cracks in the pantry. Or you're good, good, good until the day itself arrives, and ten minutes before the city's official trick-or-treating time starts, you're tearing over to the grocery to pick through...
  



• Diet Coke prevents pregnancy
  

  Filed under: Artificial Sugars, Soda, Health & Medical

  So. Diet Coke kills sperm on contact. We thought you should know.
  
  We feel sort of shocked, and also sort of remarkably unshocked.
  
  Scientist Deborah Anderson and her team have been awarded one of this year's Ig Nobel Awards from Improbable Research for their work on both Coca Cola Classic and Diet Coke's contraceptive qualities.
  
  Will this knowledge ever come in handy? Well, with a desperate situation and a little yoga, anything is possible. Never say never, right? Okay, yeah, maybe this once.
  
  Other things we bet kill sperm: Jagermeister, Ramen...
  



• Could Splenda contribute to weight gain?
  

  Filed under: Science, Artificial Sugars

  
  There's a new study out that has some bad news for Splenda users. According to the research, the sugar substitute may "suppress beneficial bacteria in the gut, and cause weight gain." It may also block absorbtion of nutrients.
  
  The study was performed on rats and conducted at Duke University in North Carolina. However, it was co-sponsored by the Sugar Association, and the makers of Splenda were quick to respond. This could be a new, real health concern, or it could be a new battle in the sugar/Splenda war, or both....
  



• The Taste of Sweet
  

  Filed under: Dessert, Artificial Sugars, Chocolate, Candy, Books, Baking, Sugar, Guilty Pleasures

  Journalist Joanne Chen, an unabashed, lifelong lover of sweets, had a hard time understanding why that's not the universal reaction. In The Taste of Sweet, she examines the physical, psychological and historical relationship between sweet flavors and humans, and discovers some pretty extraordinary things about our tongues, brains, societal perceptions, and why some folks will always have room for dessert.
  
  
  Read her 10 Surprising Facts About Our Relationship with Sweets, take her Are You A Supertaster Quiz and come back...
  



• EU won't ban additives from food
  

  Filed under: Science, Trans Fats, Artificial Sugars, Newspapers, Europe

  Despite urges from various British food organizations, the European Food Safety Authority decided against banning additives in food.
  
  Their reasoning? A recent £750,000 study, which found a link between eating food loaded with additives and colorants and impulsive/hyperactive behavior in kids, was not a substantial enough reason to ban the additives entirely. In the study, eight and nine year olds who had ingested food with additives could not sit still long enough to complet simple tasks, like a 15-minute computer exercise. (Yeah, but neither could most of the eight year olds I know, with or...
  



• The best in offensive, stereotypical Irish food products
  

  Filed under: Artificial Sugars, Candy, America, Celebrations, St. Patrick's Day

  It's that time of year - a week of green-tinted beer, green-tinged bagels, and an overabundance of green streamers and shamrock-shaped accessories and five dollar Old Navy shirts with clovers prominently displayed on the chest.
  
  What would St. Patrick's Day be without our bizarre, Americanized version of a culture we apparently know very little about? It is our job, as Americans, to mock and exploit the Irish culture by upholding commonly-held stereotypes. And the best way to do this? Through these five products.
  
  Oh: and as a person with a good amount of...
  



• Aspartame may be sweet but it isn't good
  

  Filed under: Science, Artificial Sugars, Did you know?, Health & Medical

  There's a lot of research coming out about artificial sweeteners and how they are not good for you. I had heard unsubstantiated claims about aspartame a long time ago, but I did not know this. Did you know that aspartame was at one time listed as a biochemical warfare agent by the pentagon? What?!
  
  I guess that's why it took eight years for the FDA to approve it's use, and only then though political pressure (or so I was informed). And no wonder the FDA didn't want to approve it. Research, both...
  



• Taste Test: Thomas Kemper Low Calorie Root Beer
  

  Filed under: Artificial Sugars, New Products, America, Soda, Light Food

  I have always been a fan of root beer. When my sister and I were kids, our intake of sugary drinks was actively monitored by our mom and so there wasn't much in the way of soda in our house. When we'd go out to eat, my dad would often get a root beer while we had to content ourselves with milk. We'd beg for sips from his glass on those occasions and so I associate root beer with comfortable family outings and special treats.
  



• Diet soda no better for you than regular
  

  Filed under: Artificial Sugars, Newspapers, America, Soda, Sugar, Health & Medical

  For years, people have thought that diet soda was the way to go if you wanted to cut down on the sugar and calories that come with regular soda. Apparently, they are now finding that it might not be such a safe choice after all. Researchers have now determined that drinking one soda a day, whether it's diet or regular, is associated with a much higher rates of heart disease and diabetes.
  
  They've associated regular, sugar-sweetened soda, with those health concerns for years, but this is the first...