A “Special” place in you know where…

“This week will see the launch of a fat-busting new Pepsi variant that is targeting the health conscious.”

I can’t even repeat that sentence with a straight face. But there you have it. Straight from the reporter’s mouth, as part of a news story I stumbled upon a couple of months ago.

I mean honestly. When are soda companies going to realize that there’s nothing they can do to convince the truly “health conscious” that their product is anything but garbage?

My guess? When pigs fly.

But then, you can’t really blame them. Not when there are still groups that dislike the fact that New York has placed a ban on selling soda in containers greater than 16 ounces.

And not when Americans continue to consume 44.7 gallons of soda per person per year. (More than anywhere else in the world, by the way.)

There are roughly 300 million of us, if you want to do the math. It’s a frightening amount of poison.

But not enough, I guess. Because the soda industry’s evil empire is expanding. And this new form of “fat-busting” Pepsi is just part of their latest pitch.

This time, it’s happening in Japan. The new drink is called Pepsi Special, and it features a water-soluble fiber called dextrin.

Recent research shows that dextrin can block fat absorption. (As if fat matters. I’ll say it again–sugar is what kills, not fat!) Studies also show that dextrin can curb hunger and calorie absorption, too.

But oddly, that’s not the angle Pepsi is using to market this new soda. (Maybe because they are launching it in a country with a 2.9% obesity rate?) Instead, Pepsi Special’s advertising touts its “crisp and refreshing” taste.

But Pepsi’s pitch to the Japanese Consumer Affairs Agency was obviously a little different. It seems this agency granted the new beverage tokuko status–which is designated for foods that offer unique health benefits.

So now soda is a health food? Could the Japanese version of the FDA be even more messed up than ours?

I’m betting Pepsi will be using this as a test market before they try to hoodwink us with this nonsense. After all, the Japanese consume the least amount of soda of all developed nations.

But just imagine how a product like this would sell in the United States. It’s frightening, really.

And of course, Coca-Cola isn’t far behind. Evidently, they’re partnering with a French drug company to launch an international line of drinks designed to make the consumer more beautiful.

No, that’s not a typo. More beautiful.

Somehow, I doubt it’s Botox in a soda bottle. But these products do have one thing in common. They’re both poison–no matter how the industry tries to spin it.

If you want proof, simply look at the results of the eye-opening study I told you about a couple of months ago.

This prospective study followed nearly 40,000 men and women aged 40 to 59 for 18 years. Researchers assessed subjects’ soft drink intake during this time via food frequency questionnaire.

The idea was to identify any conclusive link between soda consumption and heart disease. And the results were exactly what one might expect.

As it turns out, stroke risk was significantly higher for people who drank soft drinks every day, compared to those who drank them rarely or never. And this association was especially pronounced among female subjects suffering from ischemic stroke.

Ironically, this study took place in Japan–precisely where Pepsi “Special” is making its tokuko debut.

But of course, it looks like the memo never got out… because I’d hardly call heart disease a “health benefit.”

A health disaster is more like it.

Sources:
Whitehead, RJ. “Fat-blocking Pepsi will launch in Japan this week. 12 Nov 2012. Accessed at http://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Formulation/Fat-blocking-Pepsi-will-launch-in-Japan-this-week.
“Soft drink intake in relation to incident ischemic heart disease, stroke, and stroke subtypes in Japanese men and women: the Japan Public Health Centre-based study cohort I.” Am J Clin Nutr. 2012 Dec;96(6):1390-7.