Pepsi to launch soda naturally sweetened with stevia
Pepsi will launch a new stevia sweetened soda this month, Pepsi True, exclusively on Amazon.
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PepsiCo Inc. is going natural as Americans lose their taste for traditional cola.
The Purchase, N.Y., beverage giant said it’s debuting a new soda with no artificial sweeteners or high-fructose corn syrup. Instead, Pepsi True contains real sugar and stevia, a natural sweetener made from plant leaves, the company said Wednesday.
The soda will come in 7.5-ounce cans, with 60 calories.
The announcement comes as soda consumption in the United States has steadily declined. Partly because of health concerns, per capita soda consumption fell 22% in 2013 from its peak in 1998, said John Sicher, editor and publisher of Beverage Digest.
To blunt that shift, soda makers are switching things up.
Pepsi launched the stevia-sweetened Pepsi Next two years ago in Australia. In August, Coca-Cola debuted Coca-Cola Life in the United States. The beverage — previously launched in several Latin American countries — contains cane sugar and stevia. An 8-ounce container also has 60 calories.
Pepsi True will be available in mid-October, exclusively on Amazon, Pepsi said. The soda has 30% less sugar than regular Pepsi, the company said.
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