Original Sprite recipe to be ditched in favour of a low-calorie alternative with natural sweeteners

As part of Coca-Cola’s anti-obesity drive, sugar is to be replaced with natural sweetener Stevia in their Sprite recipe.

Back in the ’90s the tag line ‘obey your thirst’ was one of the most memorable slogans in advertising. Now it appears that Sprite is telling its fans to ‘obey their belt’ in a new drive to tackle obesity.

Coca-Cola has announced that the original lemon and lime fizzy drink is to be replaced with a new recipe that uses natural sweetener Stevia instead of sugar. The sweetener comes from the leaves of a Paraguayan plant and is sweeter than sugar, without the calories.  This means the new drink will contain 30% fewer calories than the original.

This move is part of Coca-Cola’s latest anti-obesity drive following a call by the Government to tackle the issue. This drive also includes anti-obesity TV ads, the first of which was aired in the UK on 19 March.

A statement from Coca-Cola said:

“We are introducing Sprite with Stevia in the UK. This will contain 30 per cent fewer calories and, instead of being added as a mid-calorie addition to the Sprite range, it will completely replace the current Sprite. Stevia, a sweetener from natural origins, is sweeter than sugar but without the calories.”

This recipe is already in place in France, but Coca-Cola has not decided yet whether they’ll bring the sweetener to the U.S.

Nearly half of Coca-Cola’s sales are currently made up of diet drinks, with the original Diet Coke leading the way with an impressive 45% of sales. The company says it plans to reduce the calorie content in all of its fizzy drinks by at least 5% by 2014.

If you want to learn more about healthy eating and alternatives to sugar, it may be worth consulting a nutritionist. For more information and to find a nutritionist in your area, please see our Healthy Eating page.

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