Is Clear Soda Better Than Dark Soda?

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Here we will discuss whether clear soda is better than darker sodas, and vice-versa. When individuals look at foods and drinks, they eat and drink with their eyes. This means that if the food or drink looks more healthy, delicious, or better, than an individual may think that it is.

This practice has been used by restaurants and manufacturers of food and drinks for a long time by improvingthe presentationof their foods and drinks. This same thing also applies to soda beverages. It might surprise some individuals to know that their soda probably wasn’t the way it looks from what it was originally after it is completely made.

Coke for example, is actually clear like Sprite before it is made with its darker color. This same thing applies to almost every single dark colored soda beverage. They all started out clear first before they became the dark color that they are.

Since this is the case, the real question is whether the ingredients used to make the soda darker is better or worse for darker sodas versus clear sodas. Are there any benefits to darkening the soda or changing its color?

Is clear soda healthy?

As stated, many dark sodas were originally clear before they became dark, but let’s look at some clear sodas like Sprite for example. Sprite has been advertised at one point as a sports drink for quenching thirst after a hard workout or game.

When Sprite is compared to Coca-Cola for an option for drinking the beverage after a post workout, it only contains a small amount of extra magnesium over Coca-Cola. It has a few more calories, lemon and lime as flavors, more sodium, and less potassium than the darker soda.

Magnesium is said to help the nervous system and to help the body with managing energy. Potassium is said to help manage the fluid inside of the cells. Sodium is said to help the body manage the fluids outside the cells.

The extra magnesium in Sprite would make it a better option than Coke for managing the body’s energy. However, Sprite does have less potassium than the darker soda. Sprite is also a caffeine-free soda beverage.

If caffeine is a concern to you, then it might be a better choice than darker colas, however not every dark soda is made with caffeine in it. Many of them were originally made with caffeine, but have had it removed from its ingredients altogether since its creation.

The level of sugars in Sprite and its altogether lack of sufficient nutrients, makes it a less than healthy choice over other drinks in general, even though it may have a little bit of magnesium to help with energy production.

Ginger ale was found to be about the same as Sprite, except it has less sugar (but not too much less) and a little bit of calcium. Calcium is said to be good for the bones and may prevent osteoporosis.

It is the extra calories in comparison to the nutritional value, along with the extra sugar, that makes it a health concern if too much of it is consumed daily.

The only exception to this would be sparkling water, which is just water that had been carbonated. This would be a healthier choice than dark sodas that have a lot of sugars. Burping and gas would be the only concerns with clear sodas like sparkling water, however you have this same issue with all sodas, because of the carbonation.

Is dark soda healthier?

As shown, dark soda isn’t really much different than the clear soda. It has almost the same amount of lack of nutrients as clear sodas.

Since we know that dark sodas are made as clear sodas to begin with, the only thing to look at is the ingredients that change the color of sodas. According to the FDA, only safe food colorings are allowed to be used.

For Coca-Cola, caramel coloring is used. It is a safe food coloring that is used in many other things besides coke (many baked goods). It is made by caramelizing sugar. This is done by just simply heating the sugar at high temperatures for an extended period of time. Caramel coloring doesn’t provide any nutritional benefits, neither is it harmful to the body.

Other food colorings that are used in soda can be made from inorganic foods. These foods that are inorganic have about the same nutrition as organic food. These food dyes come from plants for the most part. Since these food colorings are only used in soda in lesser amounts to just change the color, they do not really add more nutrients to the darker colored or colored sodas.

It only takes a small amount of caramel coloring to change a clear soda into a darker color.

Which should I drink, clear or dark soda?

Neither clear or dark soda is better for you. The only thing that changes is really the color for each type. The food coloring in the darker colored sodas do not make them better or worse.

If the soda has a lot of sugars (which both clear and dark sodas can usually have), then either can be detrimental to your dental health. Both contain consumable but safe acids, and the excessive sugars can still feed the bacteria on your teeth that can cause tooth decay and cavities.

Some individuals may think that the dark soda is the one that will cause the most dental damage over time, because of the darker color, but it is actually the high amounts of sugar in the beverage itself that does that. This applies to both dark and clear sodas, with the exception of diet sodas, sparkling water, and zero calorie sodas.

If for some reason you want to still consume sodas that have sugars and calories, ginger ale, sprite, or some other clear lemon and lime soda beverages may contain a mynute better nutritional value than most dark sodas. Cheers.

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