Venezuela: Why We Banned Coke Zero

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela's Health Ministry said Friday it banned sales of Coca-Cola Zero because the company failed to declare that the no-calorie soft drink uses an artificial sweetener allegedly harmful to health.

Health officials said tests show the cola contains sodium cyclamate. Coca-Cola Co. disputes that, saying the product sold in Venezuela uses different artificial sweeteners, Acesulfame-K and Aspartame.

Cyclamate is not prohibited in Venezuela. But the ministry said the company failed to report sodium cyclamate as an ingredient in Coca-Cola Zero when it received its initial health permit to begin selling the drink in April.

Coca-Cola is "failing to comply with sanitary norms," the ministry said in a statement published in the newspaper Ultimas Noticias. The ministry urged Venezuelans to refrain from trying the drink, saying it is "considered harmful to the health."

The U.S. prohibits the use of cyclamates in human food because of health safety concerns. Sales of Coca-Cola Zero elsewhere in Latin America have met with resistance over the use of cyclamate.

Rosy Alvarez, a spokeswoman for Coca-Cola Servicios de Venezuela, told The Associated Press on Thursday that "no ingredient of Coca-Cola Zero is harmful to peoples' health." But the company is complying with Venezuela's ban and has begun halting production, she said.

Kerry Kerr, a spokeswoman at Coca-Cola headquarters in Atlanta, said Thursday that the company was in discussions with the Venezuelan government.

Coca-Cola sells many other soft drinks in Venezuela, including Coca-Cola Classic, Chinoto, Frescolita and Hit.

Comments

[DavidATolucaLake]

Donald Rumsfeld was the CEO of the company that makes Aspartame (Nutrasweet).

Nutrasweet could not get approval by the FDA for many years, untill Rumsfeld became a memeber of Regans transition team. Nutrasweet was finally approved during the Reagan admin.

Bush, Cheny, Rumsfeld. Wherever they are you find scandal and shame.

[ohsaydidyousee]

Right on David. Glad to see that well informed people are using these boards to spread the word. Aspartame is essentially the main ingredient found in rat poison. Studies have concluded that aspartame also causes various cancers, primarily a rare form of brain tumor not to mention lots of other side effects that have resulted in many health problems within a small percentage of people.

Nothing like a little rat poison in your bubble gum and soda. Thanks Rummy.

[tatianalensky]

makes you think the adj "collusive" is a perfect match for these three:

deceitful, conniving, tricky. All for one. One for all.

[GGMarks]

Bingo.... I was in England when Rummy got the job in the cabinet that approved this POISON.

the English were really upset.

I remember clearly that scientists warned that if the Cola were in a car window, or got warm from any means - the sweetener becomes highly toxic.

I think even today... diet colas using that sweetener are highly regulated in Europe... either they must be transported by refrigerated truck or a warning label must tell consumers not to allow the drink to sit in the sun or car.

I"ve NEVER drunk a diet cola.... EVER.

[masher]

Ok so Venezuela is right on this one. Chavez is crazy as a loon but they got this one right.

[GGMarks]

The only reason we think Chavez is a loon.... is because our media began telling us that a while back.

I've been to Venezuela - and I had dinner with a documentary film maker who spent days interviewing Chavez for Euro TV...... Seems Chavez broke up a monopoly of 5 families who had literally divided up the country among themselves...... GUESS WHICH ETHNICITY these 5 families were????

come on -- take a guess.

5 families have owned most of Venezuela for the past century..... along with the American Oil companies who have been stealing oil from that country without compensation.

Hint -- they are rich, highly ethnocentric matriarchy -- who are in the top % of income earners in EVERY WESTERN COUNTRY.

come on..... take a WILD GUESS

[slithers]

Worst place I've ever been.

[oldschoololdsoul]

Diet soda drinks are filled with poison fake sugar that causes neurological problems. Diet foods and drinks are not safe and they should be banned.

[MIKEinNYC]

I NEVER buy Citgo gas. It's imported from Venezuela. I do feel bad for the Americans that sell that product though.

In any event, I notice that Citgo gas is priced higher than competing products. Typically, gas stations are clustered together. I have noticed that the Citgo product is always the highest priced. I guess that that is how they pay for the heating oil that claim to give away for free to the needy.

[Iamcaptainamerica]

It is my understanding that although Citgo is a Venezuelan based company, the vast majority of the Citgo stations are independently owned. Independent stores almost always have slightly higher prices than their chain-store competitors. Your anti-Citgo protest only affects your local economy and those small business owners, who were under contract with Citgo long before you started to care. Personally, I feel better putting a couple bucks in the pocket of Mr. & Mrs Lee (my local citgo owners-who work 6 days a week) than I would putting a penny into the coffers of Exxon/Mobil or Shell or BP.

[MIKEinNYC]

The moms and pops also buy gas from Exxon/Mobil, Shell and BP.

But I have another reason for not buying Citgo. A couple of years ago, (as a result of a bad brake job), a wheel on my car caught fire. It was immediately next to a Citgo station. I ran into the Citgo station to ask for some water. I had my own container. The guy running the place said there was no water. When I pointed out that there was a mens' room right there, he slammed the mens' room door shut and said, "I told you that there's no water". A guy from a deli across the street helped me out by getting me some water and I saved the car.

[IntelligenceIsBliss]

Citgo is always cheaper in my neighborhood. I buy it frequently. Better to give the money to the Venezuelan people than to the terrorists and their sponsors in Riyadh, or to Putin and his fascist regime.

People who have problems with Chavez are simply slurping the right-wing talking points without doing any homework of their own on the subject.

[newsforjim]

Hey justobserving...what you posted there is kinda like saying people who undergo radiation treatment are more likely to have cancer. People drink diet softdrinks because there having weight problems. Therefore.....well put 2 and 2 together...

[wantthetruth]

Some people don't drink diet soft drinks because they are having weight problems...some do it to avoid having weight problems. Some just like the taste.

[Frenbar]

Some people manage to avoid weight problems by drinking the amazing diet drink called water.

[JustObserving]

"People drink diet softdrinks because there having weight problems."

That's not trrue. A lot of people watch their calories and they need not be having weight problems.

When you drink something sweet, your body releases insulin to process the sugar it expects. When insulin finds no sugar, it reduces your blood sugar sharply making you hungry. So diet drinks enhance your appetite and you gain weight faster than non-diet drinks.

[apduncan1]

What's wrong with drinking water?

[jotunloki]

Bad science. The body responds to blood sugar levels. The taste (sweet, sour, bitter or whatever) has nothing to do with insulin production/release. Carbohydrates produce the same reaction even if made up of completely non-sweet starches.

[lessbs]

As usual, a country that the right-wing news media constantly puts down protects its' citizenry way better than the "anything for big business" USA.

[daddybum]

Really?!! Hugo...Really??!! this in a place where there are ( I am sure) just as many taco trucks and street hot dog vendors as there are here in Los angeles....This guy is a piece of ......."Work"..I resisted the temptation to go all curse wordy......

[fscuttle]

thats mighty white of you.

[blue utah]

LOL. I'm sure glad he didn't shout mularky

[apduncan1]

Tacos are Mexican food and are practically unknown in Venezuela. Your ignorance shows.

[asier]

I would not say unknown, we got as many decent mexican restaurants here in Venezuela as in the next country. Anyway you would probably get kidnapped or shot before you had time to die from a stoke or cancer.

Still, the most beautiful women a beaches of the world, so its kind of a trade off. Depending on your priorities of course ;)

[Phenlandia]

That's for posting an informative version of the story instead of the deceptive Reuters version you linked to earlier.

[JustObserving]

The reason diet colas make you gain weight is simple:

Your body releases insulin at the taste of sugar. But there is no sugar in the bloodstream. So your blood sugar falls sharply making you ravenously hungry - and you end up overeating.

You cannot fool your body and not pay a price.

Never ever have an artificial sweetner if you value your health. Not to mention, many synthetic sweetners are toxins to begin with.

[swingerofbirches]

Hmm............if that were true why do they make food for diabetics like candies which are made with artificial sugar? The truth is that the body produces insulin in response to actual sugar not the taste of sugar.

I'm not saying artificial sweeteners are good, but there is no hard science linking them to weight gain. Diet soda is probably a good way for people to step off of soda and then eventually to water. I drink diet soda very rarely. I do miss it though when I have a veggie burger.

[DKLabRat]

I can't speak to the truth of the comments about sweeteners and whether diet drinks make you hungry. But as far as making 'diabetic foods' like special biscuits and things - when I was first diagnosed with diabetes I was told emphatically by my dietician not to buy any of these products and avoid them like the plague because they were cons and no more healthy for diabetics than regular sugar-laden products. (I'd kind of figured that one out for myself btw).

[Mostro]

Your body doesn't release insuline at the TASTE of sugar, but to sugar itself. No glucose high in the bloodstream, no insuline release. That's the basic principle of glucose restriction diets that a diabetic should follow.

The main problem with diet foods is that many of them have less sugar but more fat.

[JustObserving]

" People who drink diet soft drinks don't lose weight. In fact, they gain weight, a new study shows.

The findings come from eight years of data collected by Sharon P. Fowler, MPH, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio. Fowler reported the data at this week's annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association in San Diego.

"What didn't surprise us was that total soft drink use was linked to overweight and obesity," Fowler tells WebMD. "What was surprising was when we looked at people only drinking diet soft drinks, their risk of obesity was even higher."

In fact, when the researchers took a closer look at their data, they found that nearly all the obesity risk from soft drinks came from diet sodas.

"There was a 41 percent increase in risk of being overweight for every can or bottle of diet soft drink a person consumes each day," Fowler says."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/06/13/health/webmd/main701408.shtml

[arizonahd]

Haha, well maybe that is true for most but not me! I lost like 50 pounds just switching to diet soda. I can't stand regular soda now.

[Frenbar]

Half the people I see drinking diet soda usually do so along with a big mac and large fries, thats why they are fat.

[mspink]

As opposed to those with big old beer bellies. We call it liver poisoning.

[Mostro]

That's because they stop consuming sugar in the form of drinks but get it somewhere else.

[LeeCalif]

You notice the Coke spokesman did not directly answer the question of whether cyclamates
were in the drink.

So, even Coke takes advantage of other countries by promoting inferior and/or dangerous products.

[HowInteresting]

Exactly. What a shame!

[Steamboater]

I've gtot two unopened bottles of that Zero in my fridge. Back to the store and back to water with lemon.

[rainbowblue]

If Coke is guilty, and that is a BIG if, it doesn't apply to the US. They are charging that Coke changed the formula for foreign companies.

It's really hard to take anything that comes out of Venezuela as truth. Only an illeducated person wouldn't see Hugo for who he really is: a power hungry tyrant who came to power on the backs of the poor. Now he has promised too much and can't deliever when oil prices drop. He hasn't diversified his economy and will suffer. Same will go for the Middle East once we develop energy technology that makes oil obsolete (they're working on it in CA).

[cardineau]

lleducated eh? ... hmmmm

[NKR]

Don't listen to that guy. It does apply to Coke Zero in the US. The US version may not contain cyclamate, but does contain aspartame. I'm by no means a health nut, but if there's one thing I avoid, its aspartame. It affects the action norepinephrine and dopamine, two extremely important neurotransmitters, in very bad ways. It's a toxin.

[DKLabRat]

Oh, you drink that too? I've thought I was the only one for years - LOL. Every time I mention it, people look at me like I'm nuts. But there are few things more refreshing - especially on a hot day - than a bottle of cold water with a dash of pure lemon juice in to give it a zing. And it quenches your thirst - it doesn't artificially increase it so that you want more soda.

[manicore]

http://www.sweetpoison.com/
Anyone that thinks Aspartame is safe or that it helps people loose
weight are Misguided at best.There is and never has been any
long term study to determine if it is even safe.

[FunkyP]

Aspartame is a neurotoxin and should not be consumed; but then soft drinks in general (w/ high fructose corn syrup) are a bad idea. They have been banned in my house since the 70's.

[Herbert Ragan]

I am allergic to aspertame. I literally become patially paralyzed when consumed.

[fscuttle]

A lot of diabetics drink diet soda.They cant drink regular.

[manicore]

Anyone who thinks Aspartame is safe is Crazy to begin with.
Aspartame poisons your Metabolism and may responsible for
a 13% increase in Brain tumors. And many people have been diagnosed
with Lupus and MS. only to find that is actually a reaction to Aspartame.
The biggest Lie is that it helps you Loose Weight! This has never been
Proven.

[MadHeart]

Watch yogurts, too. Aspartame is sometimes loaded into every kind of sweetened yogurt. Read the ingredients.