Products that are suitable for vegans: Coke Classic, Coke Vanilla, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Coke No Sugar, Fanta Orange, Fanta Jelly Fizz, Sprite, Powerade, Powerade Zero, Lift, Appletiser & Grapetiser, Coke Raspberry, Fanta Passionfruit Cream.

A statement on its website reads, “the vast majority of our drinks, including Coca-Cola, are suitable for vegetarians and vegans as they do not contain any animal derivatives.” However, drinks like Lilt, Lilt Zero, Honest Lemon and Honey, and Schweppes Orange Squash contain animal ingredients.

In an official statement to Metro, a spokesperson for PepsiCo said “We can confirm that regular Pepsi and Pepsi Max are suitable for vegetarians and vegans. Diet Pepsi is only suitable for vegetarians as it contains traces of ingredients that are not suitable for people following a vegan diet.”

Coke Zero does not add nutritional value to your diet, and the long-term effects of drinking diet sodas are still unclear. If you want to reduce your sugar or regular soda intake, opt for healthier, low-sugar drinks like herbal tea, fruit-infused water, and black coffee — and leave Coke Zero on the shelf.

One study in 749 adults found that the waist circumference gain of people who consumed diet soda daily was nearly four times greater than non-consumers over a 10-year period. What’s more, artificially sweetened beverage consumption has been significantly associated with overweight and obesity ( 2 , 3 ).

Answer From Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D. Drinking a reasonable amount of diet soda a day, such as a can or two, isn’t likely to hurt you. The artificial sweeteners and other chemicals currently used in diet soda are safe for most people, and there’s no credible evidence that these ingredients cause cancer.

The artificial sweetener aspartame (Equal, NutraSweet), which is added to many medications, diet foods and diet sodas, contains phenylalanine.