What makes a soft drink/beverage
From the US FDA:
Calorie content claims.
(1) The terms “calorie free,” “free of calories,” “no calories,” “zero calories,” “without calories,” “trivial source of calories,” “negligible source of calories,” or “dietarily insignificant source of calories” may be used on the label or in the labeling of foods, provided that:(i) The food contains less than 5 calories per reference amount customarily consumed and per labeled serving.
To a dieter watching his/her calories, this basically means that they can have a field day with these drinks without having to worry about additional calories in their diet. H2OH! has just recently entered the Malaysian market, and I’m loving it already.
If you’re wondering what is it that makes these drinks calorie-free, the secret lies in the sweetener used. In this case, the manufacturer of H2OH! uses aspartame (it says so on the label), which is a low calorie sugar alternative, sometimes branded as Nutrasweet.
I’m glad that H2OH! has joined Malaysia’s existing range of diet soft drinks. Previously, we were pretty much limited to
Interestingly, if you manage to get hold of a can of H2OH, notice that the nutritional information provided at the back of the can says that H2OH contains 4.5 g of Vitamin C per 100ml. Now.. that can’t be right for sure.. as even a tablet of Redoxon Vitamin C contains only 1g of vitamin C. Is H2OH trying to say that a full can (250ml) would contain 11.25g of Vitamin C = 12 tabs of Redoxon? Impossible. Now that’s overdosing! Something tells me that they meant 4.5mg and not 4.5 g.
Cheers people!
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This post was written by...
Noel Chelliah, ACE-CPT, ACE-LWMC, has been recognized as one of the Top Transformation Experts in Malaysia. No stranger to being overweight himself, Noel has gone through a life-changing transformation himself, from fat, to fit. In 2010, Noel founded the DailyMuscle Body Transformation Camp, which today helps hundreds of individuals exercise and practice healthier habits. In his spare time, Noel serves the community with various programs that promote a healthier lifestyle, and enjoys playing with his dogs.
My name is Noel Chelliah, and I’m a Transformation Specialist and founder of the 
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
yeah… i guess i should be 4.5mg…. no way u can stuff 4500 mg into that drink unless they wana start poisoning ppl around… ah well… it’s the KPDN’s issue to deal with. not us.
Yeah. But i must say – the drink does taste pretty good. I’m gonna be laying off the Diet Coke for awhile.
really? umm… i saw it being sold in my local shell station. might as well get it later on my way out.
taste just nice :) I’m taking them too :)
I just bought it the other day. Unfortunately, the taste of this drink didn’t really agree with me.
So I think that I’m just going to have to stick to boring ole plain water. :(
Scorkes: really? Actually it tastes just like 7-up. Anyway, everyone has their own likes and dislikes. As for me, H2OH! was a refreshing change from the boring Diet Coke I used to drink regularly. :)
I used to drink loads of diet sodas and basically exist on them, alongside my usual vegetarian diet. All I can say is that it wrecked havoc on my body, I lost a lot of sleep and my stomach was upset all the time, I found the artificial sweeteners made me crave food more than I usually would, and I was extremely irritable. Everyone got puzzled with my behaviour. It was when I got heartburn and went to the doctor, when she advised me to stop drinking the diet sodas.
As soon as I cut out the sodas it got a lot better. Even now I seem extremely sensitive to products sweetened and toted as “zero calorie” and get the same “symptoms” upon consumption of even the most harmless looking things. Chewing gum flavoured with xylitol makes me bounce off the walls.
I suppose with any kind of sweeteners it is better to give a wide berth. There is something sinister about any man-made substance mimicking nature’s original. Best to stick with 100% fruit juices that have only natural sugars, if you ask me. But that is, I suppose, just a matter of opinion.
Marlina – thanks for sharing. I really agree, and like how you said “There is something sinister about any man-made substance mimicking nature’s original”. That’s so true.
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