今年1月，新口味的健怡可樂一經上市就大受好評。不過細心的消費者們或許注意到，新品健怡可樂在成份一欄里多了一個新單詞——乙酰氨基磺酸鉀，俗稱“老K”。

這種人工增甜劑將被添加到姜汁青檸、櫻桃、芒果、紅橙等多個口味的健怡可樂中。另外普通口味的健怡可樂也將重裝上市，只不過它的包裝罐被“瘦身”和“增高”了，而且它仍將僅使用阿斯巴甜作為唯一的人工增甜劑。

和阿斯巴甜一樣，“老K”也是一種高強度增甜劑，其甜味是普通白砂糖的200倍，所以只需極少量的“老K”就能達到和蔗糖同樣的甜度。這種增甜劑是上世紀60年代發(fā)明的，經常與阿斯巴甜搭配出現(xiàn)在碳酸飲料里。

美國食品藥品監(jiān)督管理局于1988年批準了“老K”的使用，并稱有超過90份研究“支持其安全性”。不過有些批評人士認為，目前對于這種人工增甜劑的研究仍然不足。比如公共利益科學中心主席邁克爾·雅各布森此前曾對《財富》表示：“這是一個大家都不關注的隱患，我認為沒有人能絕對地說它是安全或者危險的。”

可口可樂北美產品總監(jiān)拉斐爾·阿塞韋多表示，可口可樂歷來在健怡可樂中只使用阿斯巴甜作為人工增甜劑，它會給可樂帶來一種特別的清爽感。

為了吸引“千禧一代”的消費者，可口可樂公司決定研發(fā)一些新口味，但研發(fā)團隊發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些新品的口味普遍略酸。而加入“老K”則能遮蓋住酸味。阿塞韋多對《財富》表示：“我們希望保持這種清爽感。”

可口可樂已經在零糖可樂中混合使用阿斯巴甜和“老K”了，這種可樂的口感比起健怡可樂也更像普通可樂。不過阿塞韋多也表示，“老K”和阿斯巴甜在這兩個品牌中的混合比例有很大的差異。“產品的最終口味是很不一樣的。”

隨著消費者日益青睞所謂的“天然成份”，越來越多的人開始排斥人工增甜劑，可口可樂的銷量自然受到影響，健怡可樂就是在此背景下重裝上市的。同時很多銷費者也想減少糖份的攝入量。研究機構NPD集團發(fā)現(xiàn)，減少攝糖已經成為很多消費者健康飲食的第一目標。

因此，很多企業(yè)都在尋找完美的天然替代品來代替糖。比如可口可樂公司就在與一家名叫Chromocell的公司展開合作。這家公司正在研究提高普通蔗糖的甜度，使飲料廠商即便減少糖的用量，也能達到相同的甜度。

阿塞韋多并不認為使用“老K”作為添加劑會令“千禧一代”望而卻步。他表示：“他們對這個領域是很開放的，我們相信，這種混合增甜劑的口味會吸引他們的。”（財富中文網）

譯者：樸成奎

When Coca-Cola’s new Diet Coke flavors hit store shelves in mid-January, serious soda aficionados may notice a new ingredient on the product’s label—acesulfame potassium, or Ace-K.

The artificial sweetener will be included in Coca-Cola’s new Diet Coke in ginger lime, feisty cherry, twisted mango, and zesty blood orange varieties. The company’s relaunched regular Diet Coke, which will now be sold in a taller and skinnier can, will continue to be made with aspartame as the sole sweetener.

Ace-K, like aspartame, is what’s known as a high-intensity sweetener: It’s 200 times sweeter than sugar, meaning a very small amount is needed to reach the same level of sweetness as sucrose. The sweetener was discovered in the 1960s and is often paired with aspartame, especially in diet sodas.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Ace-K in 1988 and says that more than 90 studies “support its safety.” Some critics, however, feel that not enough research has been conducted on the sweetener. “It’s a sleeper that no one pays attention to,” Michael Jacobson, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told Fortune earlier this year. “I don’t think either side can say definitively it’s safe or dangerous.”

Coca-Cola, however, has historically only used aspartame in Diet Coke, which gives the soda a very crisp taste, says Rafael Acevedo, Coca-Cola North America’s group director for the product.

But when the company decided to try these new flavors to target millennial consumers, the R&D team found that the product tasted a little bit sourer. The addition of the Ace-K was able to mask that sour flavor. “We wanted to make sure we maintain that crispness,” Acevedo tells Fortune.

Coca-Cola already uses a blend of aspartame and Ace-K in Coke Zero Sugar, which is designed to taste more like regular Coke than Diet Coke. Acevedo, however, says that Ace-K and aspartame are blended together very differently in the two brands. “The final taste of the products are very different,” he says.

The relaunch of Diet Coke comes amid a period declining sales volumes as shoppers have increasingly eschewed artificial sweeteners—part of a bigger consumer trend away from processed fare to what they view as natural ingredients. Simultaneously, consumers are trying to cut back on their sugar intake. Research firm NPD Group has found that sugar is now the No. 1 substance they are trying to cut or eliminate from their diets.

As a result, companies have been on a quest to find the perfect natural sugar substitute. For example, Coca-Cola works with a company called Chromocell, which is working on enhancing the sweetness of sugar so formulators can use less of it to achieve the same taste.

Acevedo, however, doesn’t believe that the inclusion of Ace-K on the label will be off-putting to millennials. “They are open to the category,” he says. “We feel very comfortable this sweetener mix is going to connect with them.”