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They introduced sugar taxes in the UK, and now almost the only carbonated drinks available with sugar are Coke and Pepsi. Everything else has swapped sugar for

They introduced sugar taxes in the UK, and now almost the only carbonated drinks available with sugar are Coke and Pepsi. Everything else has swapped sugar for sweeteners, which for those of us who find their taste foul has been an unpleasant reduction in choice

ctrl-j 7y ago
Isn't that the desired outcome? Ideally it seems like coke and pepsi would be extremely expensive and a rare treat. Meanwhile the non-sugary beverages would be the ones most people drink.
- timthorn 7y ago
  Desired by whom, and for whose benefit? Drinks I used to like no longer exist, but have just been substituted by coke so there is zero reduction in sugar consumption, but my quality of life has been reduced.
  - jdietrich 7y ago
    The drinks are all still available, but have been reformulated to avoid the sugar tax. Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Irn Bru - they're all still on the shelves, but they have little or no sugar. Aside from a brief outcry about the reformulation of Irn Bru, nobody really noticed or cared. The sugary drinks tax follows on from a highly successful salt reduction programme. https://publichealthengland.exposure.co/salt-reduction-programme https://publichealthengland.exposure.co/salt-reduction-progr...
  - ctrl-j 7y ago
    > Desired by whom, and for whose benefit? Desired by the lawmakers who passed the tax. And for the benefit of the larger group. A public health crisis is taking place - and if the sugar tax lowers the amount of resources spent on treating the widespread occurrence of diabetes, it will be a net benefit for society. Yes, at the cost of your personal freedom to have readily available sugary drinks.
- homonculus1 7y ago
  >Isn't that the desired outcome? Not for me, and the way you've framed this is creepy. I don't have diabetes and I very much do not desire to have some of my favorite drinks eliminated by a nanny state trying to solve someone else's self-inflicted health issues. The top-down, metric-based, technocratic ideology doesn't even take my freedom of choice or personal stake in the matter as input.
  - wincy 7y ago
    Once medicine for all becomes a thing, technocrats believe it is their right and duty to tell you what to eat and drink.
  - ctrl-j 7y ago
    When you have a public health crisis, extreme measures need to be taken. We can't drive on the wrong side of the street. We can't sell tainted food. We can't lie in order to drum up sales. Society has restrictions on freedom.
    - homonculus1 7y ago
      AIDS is a public health crisis. Are we to limit homosexual intercourse too? If a can of soda invites government meddling into people's lifestyles then literally nothing is safe. There will always be some aggregate cost that can justify intrusion until every private decision is optimized and regulated according to some central rubric.
  - notJim 7y ago
    The thing is, it's not some pure freedom of choice to consume soda. Soda is massively subsidized by government policy, and marketed aggressively by corporations that make huge profits because of its addictive properties, which they carefully enhance. They spend part of those profits on lobbying to ensure that there are no countervailing forces in society, and that the subsidies remain in place. And the negative externalities of it on our health and on the environment are born by society as a whole. If anything, forces that counter-act their marketing and lobbying enhance your freedom by making it so that you are making a more-informed choice if you consume their product.
tzs 7y ago
> Everything else has swapped sugar for sweeteners, which for those of us who find their taste foul has been an unpleasant reduction in choice. A few years ago, I adjusted my diet to have a lower carb percentage, but (1) Pepsi was my favorite drink, with Dr. Pepper as a close second, and (2) I could not stand the diet versions of Pepsi or Dr. Pepper. By doing some contortions I was able to arrange things to keep having Pepsi or Dr. Pepper while still meeting my overall carb goals, but it was annoying as those drinks were pretty much using up all of my carb allowance. So I took another look at Diet Pepsi, which had a couple different kinds available with different sweeteners, and Diet Dr. Pepper. Still terrible, but I could power through and choke down a few sips with a meal. I know a lot of people don't like coffee or beer when they first try them, but are told that they will learn to like them if they keep drinking them, and they do so to fit in...and in fact do come to like those drinks. So I kept choking down Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Pepsi in small amounts with my meals...and after a week or so, found that I actually had come to like them! I'm tempted to try a Tab now, to see how far the "learn to like" phenomenon can be pushed, but I'm still waiting for the bizarre aftertaste from that Tab I tried in the late '60s to fully fade, so am somewhat afraid to do any further experiments. Anyway, my point is that if you just tried the non-sugary stuff once and gave up because of the foul taste, it might be worth trying a few more times. You may be able to learn to like it, and so restore somewhat variety to your carbonated drink options.
- bigtex 7y ago
  Try some of the new Virgil's drinks, they are truly low carb( sweetened with erythritol) and the canned versions taste really good. They have a cola version as well.
- totesraunch 7y ago
  Why not just drop soda entirely? It seems like you're forcing yourself to drink something you don't like just to keep soda in your diet... Perhaps flavored waters might be a good choice?
pdwetz 7y ago
Is making your own an option in the UK? I have a few friends in the US that love it, but I think you need easy service for the canisters. More effort to be sure, but at least then you can use whatever syrup you like.

ctrl-j 7y ago

Isn't that the desired outcome? Ideally it seems like coke and pepsi would be extremely expensive and a rare treat. Meanwhile the non-sugary beverages would be the ones most people drink.

timthorn 7y ago
Desired by whom, and for whose benefit? Drinks I used to like no longer exist, but have just been substituted by coke so there is zero reduction in sugar consumption, but my quality of life has been reduced.
- jdietrich 7y ago
  The drinks are all still available, but have been reformulated to avoid the sugar tax. Fanta, Sprite, Dr Pepper, Irn Bru - they're all still on the shelves, but they have little or no sugar. Aside from a brief outcry about the reformulation of Irn Bru, nobody really noticed or cared. The sugary drinks tax follows on from a highly successful salt reduction programme. https://publichealthengland.exposure.co/salt-reduction-programme https://publichealthengland.exposure.co/salt-reduction-progr...
- ctrl-j 7y ago
  > Desired by whom, and for whose benefit? Desired by the lawmakers who passed the tax. And for the benefit of the larger group. A public health crisis is taking place - and if the sugar tax lowers the amount of resources spent on treating the widespread occurrence of diabetes, it will be a net benefit for society. Yes, at the cost of your personal freedom to have readily available sugary drinks.
homonculus1 7y ago
>Isn't that the desired outcome? Not for me, and the way you've framed this is creepy. I don't have diabetes and I very much do not desire to have some of my favorite drinks eliminated by a nanny state trying to solve someone else's self-inflicted health issues. The top-down, metric-based, technocratic ideology doesn't even take my freedom of choice or personal stake in the matter as input.
- wincy 7y ago
  Once medicine for all becomes a thing, technocrats believe it is their right and duty to tell you what to eat and drink.
- ctrl-j 7y ago
  When you have a public health crisis, extreme measures need to be taken. We can't drive on the wrong side of the street. We can't sell tainted food. We can't lie in order to drum up sales. Society has restrictions on freedom.
  - homonculus1 7y ago
    AIDS is a public health crisis. Are we to limit homosexual intercourse too? If a can of soda invites government meddling into people's lifestyles then literally nothing is safe. There will always be some aggregate cost that can justify intrusion until every private decision is optimized and regulated according to some central rubric.
- notJim 7y ago
  The thing is, it's not some pure freedom of choice to consume soda. Soda is massively subsidized by government policy, and marketed aggressively by corporations that make huge profits because of its addictive properties, which they carefully enhance. They spend part of those profits on lobbying to ensure that there are no countervailing forces in society, and that the subsidies remain in place. And the negative externalities of it on our health and on the environment are born by society as a whole. If anything, forces that counter-act their marketing and lobbying enhance your freedom by making it so that you are making a more-informed choice if you consume their product.

tzs 7y ago

> Everything else has swapped sugar for sweeteners, which for those of us who find their taste foul has been an unpleasant reduction in choice. A few years ago, I adjusted my diet to have a lower carb percentage, but (1) Pepsi was my favorite drink, with Dr. Pepper as a close second, and (2) I could not stand the diet versions of Pepsi or Dr. Pepper. By doing some contortions I was able to arrange things to keep having Pepsi or Dr. Pepper while still meeting my overall carb goals, but it was annoying as those drinks were pretty much using up all of my carb allowance. So I took another look at Diet Pepsi, which had a couple different kinds available with different sweeteners, and Diet Dr. Pepper. Still terrible, but I could power through and choke down a few sips with a meal. I know a lot of people don't like coffee or beer when they first try them, but are told that they will learn to like them if they keep drinking them, and they do so to fit in...and in fact do come to like those drinks. So I kept choking down Diet Dr. Pepper or Diet Pepsi in small amounts with my meals...and after a week or so, found that I actually had come to like them! I'm tempted to try a Tab now, to see how far the "learn to like" phenomenon can be pushed, but I'm still waiting for the bizarre aftertaste from that Tab I tried in the late '60s to fully fade, so am somewhat afraid to do any further experiments. Anyway, my point is that if you just tried the non-sugary stuff once and gave up because of the foul taste, it might be worth trying a few more times. You may be able to learn to like it, and so restore somewhat variety to your carbonated drink options.

bigtex 7y ago
Try some of the new Virgil's drinks, they are truly low carb( sweetened with erythritol) and the canned versions taste really good. They have a cola version as well.
totesraunch 7y ago
Why not just drop soda entirely? It seems like you're forcing yourself to drink something you don't like just to keep soda in your diet... Perhaps flavored waters might be a good choice?

pdwetz 7y ago

Is making your own an option in the UK? I have a few friends in the US that love it, but I think you need easy service for the canisters. More effort to be sure, but at least then you can use whatever syrup you like.