Flickr/stevendepolo

Grape soda

Now we know you were all really mad at NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg for trying to ban large-sized sodas. But the man may have had a point. Sugary beverages are linked to more than 180,000 deaths worldwide annually, according to new research presented this week at an American Heart Assn. conference.

Harvard researchers examined how often people around the globe drink sugar-sweetened beverages and how that affected their risk of death, CNN reports. They looked at over 100 national dietary surveys covering more than 60% of the world's population, and also sought evidence from studies in medical journals concerning sugary drinks and other dietary habits.

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Courtesy PepsiCo

Brazil's line of PepsiCo products, including drinkable oatmeal

Would you drink your Fritos? How about potato chips? Beer nuts? You may get a chance, because PepsiCo, looking to diversify it's market, is planning to turn snacks into drinks.

The Financial Times reports on the remarks of PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi, who said "The fact that PepsiCo is a food and beverage company gives us a more holistic view of the consumer, what foods they eat, what do they like to drink, what parts of what they eat are they willing to drinkify." She pointed to an oatmeal drink that's popular in Brazil as an example.

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Pepsi Co.

Pepsi's new "special" soda

In what could be seen as the latest desperate attempt to get cola drinkers to choose what my Southern ex-brother-in-law will only refer to as "the P-word," Pepsi Co. is launching a new version that it claims acts as a fat blocker, the Daily Mail reports.

Pepsi Special is made with dextrin -- an indigestible form of dietary fiber sold as Benefiber in the U.S. It is also commonly used in glue. Studies on rats have suggested dextrin can reduce the absorption of fat in the body and lower cholesterol levels.

There is no information about how much sugar Pepsi Special contains compared to regular Pepsi, but a spokesman told the Mail it would have a "crisp refreshing and unique" aftertaste. (Dextrin is said to have a rather unpleasant aftertaste, which could account for the "unique.")

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Flickr/jacreative

Diet Pepsi

PepsiCo Inc. is trying out new artificial sweeteners that would let its diet soda keep its sweet taste for a longer period of time, The Washington Post reports. The current sweetener used in Diet Pepsi -- aspartame -- loses its potency faster than high fructose corn syrup, the sweetener that's used in most regular sodas. This can result in both an uneven flavor in the soda and a shorter shelf life.

When the company figures out a better sweetener blend, a new version of Diet Pepsi will be released as early as next year. It will use the same formula that creates Diet Pepsi's overall taste, but will add a mix of artificial sweeteners, including acesulfame-potassium, or ace-K, that has a longer shelf life (and sounds like something you could buy on the street). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved ace-K in 1998.

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Flickr/joel2k5

Sodas Galore

Well, it's official -- after an announcement by the Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Wednesday, one mystery surrounding the Mormon faith has been dispelled for good: Caffeinated sodas are now fair game for thirsty church members.

A statement on the LDS website states that "the church does not prohibit the use of caffeine" and that the faith's health-code reference to "hot drinks" ''does not go beyond (tea and coffee)." While that might not quite satisfy Mormons looking for an alternative to their cup of decaf coffee, it's good news for those who can't resist the pull of an icy can of pop (which includes Mitt Romney, who is known to have a fondess for Diet Coke while on the campaign trail).

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R.E.~/Flickr

Can of Coke

Happiness, apparently, is a warm embrace. At least, for Coca-Cola, which recently installed a "Hug Machine" that dispenses cold sodas in exchange for warm hugs on the National University of Singapore campus. According to Mashable, the huggable machine is part of the soda company's "Open Happiness" project to encourage consumers to "open a Coke and share a little happiness."

The machine looks like the company's typical red-and-white vending machine, with the words "Hug Me" printed on the front. As advertising firm Ogilvy & Mather says in a statement, "Those bold enough to embrace the machine were rewarded with cans of ice-cold Coca-Cola and left with huge smiles on their faces."

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Flickr/poolie

Sugary sodas are an American tradition

Three out of five California voters would support a special tax on soda and soft drinks to fight childhood obesity, according to a new Field Poll.

New data collected as part of the Field-The California Endowment Childhood Obesity Prevention Survey found that 48% of participants cited unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise as the primary health concern facing children -- an increase from 35% in 2003.

This opinion crossed all major segments of the voter population, including voters in all parties and across all demographic and regional subdivisions, although parents with children under age 18 were among the most likely to feel this way. The researchers found that 62% of voters would support a tax on soda as one way to combat the fat-kid issue. Of that 62%, 45% support the idea "strongly."

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chelle_1278/Flickr

Diet Coke

Jean Paul Gaultier, designer of Madonna's epic cone bra, now is set to style another icon: Diet Coke. The fashion designer was just named Diet Coke's new Creative Director for Europe and, as part of his creative duties, will create limited edition Diet Coke bottles and cans. According to his statement in Coca-Cola's press release, Gaultier wants to "show people the codes and signatures I love. The bottles have the shape of a woman's body, so it was great fun to 'dress' them."

As if the idea of Gaultier anthropomorphizing a soda bottle isn't enough, he also co-stars in a trio of bizarre videos with a few marionnettes. In all three, he plays a "Serial Designer" who, invigorated by Diet Coke, "helps" the marionnettes in the midst of a fashion crisis. The outcome, however, is less What Not to Wear and somewhat more awkward, uncomfortable assaults on puppets.

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We have seen it, the promised land. The soda dispenser of the future. A machine so sleek it should be in a technology museum and so smart it can dispense more sodas than you can imagine. If you haven't tasted Peach Mello Yello or Raspberry Coke Zero, have you truly lived?

We don't normally go gaga over food-service machinery (especially when it's designed by a multinational global conglomerate peddling a product we rarely consume), but when we first spotted the Coca-Cola Freestyle with its sexy contours and previously unsipped sodas at recently opened Westwood pizzeria 800 Degrees, it blew our mind. (It also made us feel like a 45-year-old suburban dad who just discovering texting.)

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Dry Soda via Facebook

Soda + Pastry Pairing

It's not often that rounding the corner at a chain supermarket leads to New Year's drinking resolutions, but such was the case when we spotted new additions to our local Ralph's soda shelves: DRY Soda. Last we checked in with Sharelle Klaus, the Seattle-based company's founder, her line of lightly sweetened sodas in flavors like lemongrass, kumquat and juniper berry were available in limited L.A. outlets (primarily specialty wine retail shops and the occasional Whole Foods). That the company has expanded into Coca-Cola chain grocer territory is a telling sip of our growing corn syrup intolerance (DRY sodas are cane sugar based).

More interesting is why the non-alcoholic drinks were originally found in wine retail shops.

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