Soft drink

A soft drink is a drink that does not contain alcohol, as opposed to hard drinks, that do. In general, the term is used only for cold beverages. Hot chocolate, tea, and coffee are not considered soft drinks. The term originally referred exclusively to carbonated drinks, and is still commonly used in this manner.

Soft drinks in a Virginia supermarket

Fizzy Drinks

Fizzy drinks (carbonated beverages) are produced by injecting carbon dioxide into the drink at several atmospheres. Carbon dioxide dissolves readily even at normal atmospheric pressure, and far more so at high pressure. When the pressure is released the carbon dioxide comes out of solution forming numerous bubbles and releasing the carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere. After many minutes most of the carbon dioxide has been released and the drink is said to be 'flat'.

The chemical phenomenon whereby carbonated drinks taste fizzy is due to carbonic acid inducing a slight burning sensation, and is only indirectly related to the bubbles- both phenomena are caused by the carbonic acid concentration.

Carbonation can also be produced by partial fermentation in a sealed container. This is the same method used in the production of champagne and by careful control the alcohol level can be kept very low.

Marketing

Soft drinks are commonly sold in stores in bottles and cans. Sales earn a significant amount of money for the producers and distributors. Most famous name-brand soft drinks are produced and bottled by local or regional independent bottling companies. These companies license the name, and are usually sold the main ingredients, with syrup made by the main manufacturing plants of the trademark holders.

In the past, most cola-flavoured and other soft drinks were sweetened with ordinary sugar (sucrose), but to save on production costs in some markets, HFCS (High-Fructose Corn Syrup) is sometimes used as a sweetener.

Competition in the industry among soft drink producers is widely referred to as the cola wars, a term mainly used to describe the ongoing battle for market supremacy between Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

Diet soft drinks

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for alternatives to sugar-heavy soft drinks. "Regular" soft drinks largely contain sugar or corn syrup, and have been blamed in recent years for contributing to obesity. Sugars, like other carbohydrates, stimulate the production of the hormone insulin, which causes the body to store fat rather than burn it. "Diet" soft drinks are sweetened with chemicals, such as aspartame and saccharin, that are perceived as sweet by most people, yet do not stimulate insulin production or have any food energy or nutritional value. These artificial sweeteners are also controversial, as many of them are subject to claims that they may cause cancer or other illnesses.

Naming conventions

• In Australia and New Zealand, "softdrink" almost always refers to carbonated beverages. In some parts of Australia the term "lolly water" was synonymous with "soft drink", but it now increasingly refers to bright-coloured alcoholic drinks which some claim are marketed at youth ("lolly water" is also rarely used in reference to wine variants). "Lemonade" is typically used only to refer to highly sweetened transparent lemon-flavoured carbonated beverages (and occassionally by extension to Coca-cola's Sprite, and Pepsi's 7 Up). Regionally, the term "coke" is used not only for the Coca-cola beverage, but as a generica term for other brands of cola as well. In Tasmania, carbonated non-alcoholic beverages are refered to as cordials.

• In Brazil, soft drinks are called refrigerante, literally meaning "cooler"; can be coloquially abbreviated as refri. Although there is the term soda, it refers specifically to lemon lime soft drinks. Not for Coke or Pepsi, for instance.

• In Canada, "pop" is the most commonly used term among English speakers to refer to a carbonated soft drink. "Soda" is almost never used. In French, a "soft drink" is referred to by its literal translation, "boisson douce". "Boisson gazeuse", "liqueur douce", and "liqueur" are also used by French Canadians. The use of "liqueur" in this fashion is distinctly Canadian French; in France, "liqueur" refers to a very specific set of aperitive and digestive alcoholic drinks.

• In China, soft drinks are often called "gas/air water" (汽水) or simply "drinks" (Simp.Chinese:饮料 Trad.Chinese:飲料). The first one refers to carbonated drinks only while the latter refers to any drink (though often it refers to soft drink). It is far more common to say the actual name of the drink (eg. Coke, Bottled Tea etc.) than saying generic terms above.

• In Denmark the name for soft drinks is sodavand, which directly translated means soda water. The term sodavand is exclusively used for sweet non-alcoholic soft drinks like Coca-Cola Pepsi and Fanta.

• In Ethiopia, soft drinks are generally known by the Amharic word "leslassa", meaning literally "smooth". The popular brand names "Koka" (Coke) and "Mirinda" (Orange Soda) are also in common parlance.

• In German, soft drinks are known as Limo short for Limonade, the German word for lemonade, but in America lemonade is an uncarbonated beverage, generally not considered a soft drink. Some regions also use Sprudel (from sprudeln=to be fizzy) or Brause (in eastern Germany) for carbonated non-alcoholic drinks. However, Fruchtschorle is one of the most popular soft drinks in Germany, but it is never called Limo since it contains no added sugar.

• In Greece, the term Gazoza is used to refer to clear soft drinks such as 7 Up or Sprite.

• In India, soft drinks go by a variety of names including "juice", "soft drinks", "cold drinks" and "cool drinks". "Soda" in India refers generally to carbonated water and not artificially flavored, carbonated beverages. One of the most popular is Pepsi's Mirinda brand.

• In Ireland, soft drinks are referred to as "minerals". Lemonade is also a generic term for a fizzy drink, and comes in two varieties — red and white. Red lemonade is similar to the Scottish drink Irn-Bru, and is popular both as a drink for kids and as a mixer for spirits.

• In Japan, soft drinks are commonly referred to as "juice", and by younger generations as "drink", a shortened term for "PET-bottle drink". Non-carbonated drinks capture the majority of the soft drink market, and their main rivals are varieties of bottled tea and green tea. Canned and bottled coffee has an equally large market share, and the carbonated drink market is smaller, in contrast to other nations. Coca-Cola splits the carbonated market with Mitsuya Saidaa -- a sweet, clear carbonated drink, and Pepsi lags behind these two, entering the market only in the 90s. Lime flavored drink (Mountain Dew and Sprite) holds almost no market share or marketed with only a touch of lime flavor. The official name for such drinks in documents and labels is Seiryo Inryo Sui (清涼飲料水) and those carbonated are called Tansan Inryo (炭酸飲料).

• In Mexico, soft drinks are called refrescos, and less frequently gaseosas.

• In the Netherlands (Dutch language), soft drinks are called frisdrank ('fresh drink') or abbreviated as fris, a word coined in 1956 by adman Dick Schiferli. Also limonade or priklimonade is used, which not only refers to a soft drink made with lemon juice, but all soft drinks. In fact, a non carbonated lemon juice lemonade is hard to find in stores.

• In Norwegian, carbonated soft drinks are called brus, which means "fizz". It is a truncated form of the now obsolete bruslimonade.

• In Paraguay, soft drinks are called gaseosas. The name coca is also common.

• In Portugal, soft drinks are called refrigerante.

• In South Africa, soft drinks are called cool drinks generically, although lemonade follows the same conventions as Australia.

• In Swedish, soft drinks are called läsk which comes from läskande drycker (roughly — refreshing drinks) and denotes carbonated non-alcoholic soft drinks. In northern Sweden the word dricka (drink) is often used. The word lemonad has more or less the same use as the English word lemonade, but belongs to a slightly higher level of style than läsk. In Finland-Swedish lemonad is more common and refers to all kinds of carbonated soft drinks, läsk (or läskedryck) is also used. Many people, both Finnish and Swedish speakers, also use the word limsa.

• In the United Kingdom, the term "soft drink" originally applied to carbonated drinks ("pop") and non-carbonated drinks made from concentrates ("squash"), although it now commonly refers to any drink that does not contain alcohol. To further confuse matters, alcopops are often called "alcoholic soft drinks". The term "pop", once popular as a generic term for soft drinks is now mainly restricted to the north of England, and Wales. The term "fizzy drinks" is also used as a synonym for sweetened carbonated drinks. In the West of Scotland, soft drinks are commonly known as "ginger", presumably referring to an early "soft drink", ginger beer. Carbonated drinks are also known as "juice" in some locations, including most of the east of Scotland.

• In the United States, "soft drink" commonly refers to cold, non-alcoholic beverages. Carbonated beverages are regionally known as:
  • "Pop" in the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest.
  • In California "soda" is the mostly commonly used term but there are many patrons that ask for "coke", especially in and around Bakersfield and Los Angeles.
  • In the Northeast, parts of the South (near Florida) and Midwest (near St. Louis and eastern Wisconsin), and California, they are known as "soda".
  • In much of the South, they are generically called "coke". (Atlanta, Georgia is home to the Coca-Cola Company.) Internally, the Coca-Cola Company (and probably other such corporations) uses the term "non-alcoholic carbonated beverage".
  • In Texas, carbonated beverages are usually referred to as "soda", although in rural areas, the term "coke" is sometimes used to describe any carbonated beverage no matter what the brand.
  • In some other areas these drinks are called "soda pop", while in and around Boston, Massachusetts, they are often called "tonic", particularly among older generations.
  • In North Carolina, the terms "drink" and "soft drink" are commonly used along with "soda" and "coke" to refer to non-alcoholic cold drinks. Some older generations of Southerners refer to such drinks as "dope".
  • See The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy for maps and geographical trends.
  • At many restaurants in the U.S., one finds that the products of only a single major beverage producer, such as The Coca-Cola Company or PepsiCo, are available. While a patron who requests a “coke” may be truly indifferent as to which cola brand he receives, the careful order taker will confirm intent with a question like “Is Pepsi OK?” Similarly, “7 Up” or “Sprite” may indicate whichever clear, carbonated, citrus-flavored drink happens to be at hand. The generic uses of these brand names does not affect the local usage of the words "pop" or "soda", to mean any carbonated beverage.

See also: List of soft drinks by country

Mixed soft drinks

• A graveyard / suicide / pop bomb / swamp water / garbage soda is made by mixing many soft drinks together, usually from a soda fountain.
• A float is created by dropping a scoop of ice cream into a soft drink. In the midwestern United States, a soft drink with ice cream added is most often called a "soda," thus leading to quizzical looks from waitstaff when people ask for a "soda" instead of pop. The most common of these is the Root beer float. In Australia and New Zealand, this is known as a Spider.

In Brazil, a scoop of ice cream into a soft drink may have different names:

• vaca preta (black cow) - ice cream in cola.
• vaca amarela (yellow cow) - ice cream in guarana flavoured soft drink.
• pantera cor de rosa (the Pink Panther) - strawberry ice cream in lemon lime soft drink.

In the U.S., some floats have specific names as a Purple Cow, Brown Cow, or Black Cow, vanilla ice cream in root beer, or Boston cooler, vanilla ice cream in Vernor's ginger ale.

Controversy

Studies showing a correlation between soft drinks and obesity

A study from Harvard shows that soft drinks may be responsible for the doubling of obesity in children over the last 15 years.

From 1991 and 1995, adolescent boys in the US, on average, increased their intake of soft drinks from 345 mL to 570 mL. Most soft drinks are sweetened with sugar or corn syrup, and not artificial sweeteners. Dr. David Ludwig of the Boston Children's Hospital showed that school children drinking at least eight U.S. fluid ounces (240 mL) or more of regularly sweetened drinks daily will consume 835 calories (3,500 kilojoules) more than those avoiding soft drinks; i.e., children who drink soft drinks loaded with sugar tend to eat much more food than those who avoid soft drinks. Either those taking sugared drinks lack the same restraint on foods, or sugared drinks cause a rise in insulin that makes adolescents more hungry, causing them to eat more. Soft drinks (including diet soft drinks) are also typically consumed with other high-calorie foods such as fast food. Children who drink soft drinks regularly are therefore fatter on average, in addition to being more likely to develop diabetes later in life (see below).

Source: - Lancet 2001;357:505-08. "Relation between consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks and childhood obesity: a prospective, observational analysis" Dr. David Ludwig from the Children's Hospital Boston and colleagues at the Harvard School of Public Health.

This finding is controversial, because children in much of the Third World also consume large numbers of soft drinks with even more sugar, and do not share the same obesity rates as American children, suggesting that other factors are involved aside from sugar consumption in soft drinks. Suggested factors include physical activity, and the fact that American soft drinks are sweetened with high fructose corn syrup instead of cane sugar. Monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is used to enhance the sweetness of some soft drink beverages, could also play a role by stimulating appetite.

Soft Drinks linked to diabetes

In 2004, a study of 50,000 nurses over a period of 8 years found that drinking one or more sugar-sweetened soft drinks per day increases one's risk of developing diabetes by 80%, when compared to those who drank less than 1 soft drink per month. This finding was independent of other lifestyle factors [1]. In the same study, a similar observation was made for fruit juice consumption. This finding is controversial.

Availability

Some argue that soft drinks are too widely available, from every restaurant, movie theater, vending machine, and similar locations. The wide availability is said to cause young people to somewhat mistake soft drinks for a major food group. Others believe that the high price of soft drinks should offer a significant disincentive to impulse buy such beverages and prevents sale to children without parental approval. They also believe that a small amount of will power on the part of the individual is all that's required to reduce consumption and that one should take personal responsibility for their own purchasing decisions.

External links

• National Soft Drink Association (US)
• The Great Pop vs. Soda Controversy
• BevNET - The Beverage Network
• just-drinks : Beverage Industry News
• Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks are Harming Americans' Health