I personally have not consumed a soda in years. I don't even remember how long it has been. Honestly, I probably last had soda during my years as an undergrad because of the sheer utility it provided as an alcohol mixer. Regardless, I have always been opposed to soda - not because I am on a moral high-horse or because I think I eat/drink healthier than everyone else (because I don't). I have never really enjoyed the caustic feeling of soda flowing down my esophagus. Sure, when soda is watered down a bit and on ice, it goes down easier, but my first impression of the stuff was when I was a boy - and let me tell you, little Casey does not enjoy the throat burn of carbonated sugar water. I apologize for my extreme bias against soda, but I kindly ask that you simply put up with it for the remainder of this blog post.
What got me thinking about soda was the one lone two-liter of 7up in our home. I bought it a few weeks ago because a loved one had a flu and needed it to sooth her stomach. Today, I glanced at the unassuming green bottle and noticed the tag line below the 7up logo. It said, "100% Natural Flavors". Upon reading it, I stopped everything I was doing. Every other thought that had been running through my consciousness had vanished. I had no choice but to grab the bottle and take a gander at the ingredient label. "Ingredients: filtered carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, natural flavors, natural citric acid and natural potassium citrate. For your entertainment, as well as my own, I will focus in on a few of these "natural" ingredients and give my two cents.
First off, high fructose corn syrup is perhaps the most well-known indicator of a highly processed, unnatural food. If the people at the 7up decided to use natural cane sugar, I would give them a little credit, but high fructose corn syrup? In a product you are trying to pass off as "natural"? Are you kidding me? According to an article on ConsumerAffairs.com, "High fructose corn syrup isn't something you could cook up from a bushel of corn in your kitchen, unless you happen to be equipped with centrifuges, hydroclones, ion-exchange columns, and buckets of enzymes." The inclusion of high fructose corn syrup on the ingredient label of a product touted as "natural" is like Brett Favre sporting a pair Abercrombie & Fitch jeans on the sidelines - not only is it against the NFL's strict dress code, but because he is a Wrangler man! Frankly, I am uncomfortable with both scenarios.
Carbonated water. Okay, water is obviously naturally occurring, but I don't see a lot of carbonated water flowing through our lakes, ponds, rivers, and oceans. As I looked a little deeper into what carbonation actually is, I found that while carbonation can occur naturally, it only happens during the process of fermentation. Correct me if I am wrong, but fermentation is not one of the steps to producing 7up - i.e. carbonated water is not "natural".
This is probably my favorite - "natural flavors". What's more "natural" than "natural flavors" you might ask!? The question is so stupid that it doesn't even require a response, but a 7up executive would probably react with a spirited "Nothing is!" In the midst of this marketing campaign, whilst spreading the good gospel about their "natural" soda, wouldn't the 7up marketing team want to be as blatant and transparent as possible about these "natural flavors"? Perhaps ingredients like "Lime juice" or "lemon juice" should appear on the list. Wait, you didn't see those two listed earlier? Don't bother scrolling up to the latter half of the second paragraph. Lime juice and lemon juice are not there. Isn't 7up a lemon-lime flavored drink (you might ask)? Apparently not. If the stuff had lemon or lime juice in there, they would make sure to let you know.
How then, is 7up allowed to make such aggressive usage of the word "natural"? I mean, to you or I, the word refers to something that can be found in nature - or at least something to that effect. Isn't the Food and Drug Administration's definition similar? And why didn't the FDA stop 7up from making these contentions? Well, the FDA has never created a definition for "natural" and even after probing by concerned consumers, the FDA still would not dedicate the resources towards such an (apparently exhausting) effort. In an environment in which such powerful words can be haphazardly thrown around, consumers can be lead to believe anything. As if we all weren't confused enough about the health attributes of our food and drinks, do we really need another mechanism through which we can be swayed towards the purchase of diabetes-linked empty calories? I don't think America needs that right now. Shame on the marketing managers at 7up, and shame on the FDA for not giving a rat's behind.
source: www.gridironexperts.com, www.experiencecurve.com
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