Why do diet sodas expire so much sooner than non-diet?!
Why do diet sodas expire so much sooner than non-diet?
At least with canned sodas, such as Coke and Diet Coke, the Diet Cokes when we get them at the office always seem to expire within a month or two (and some of them arrive expired!), while it will be several months until the non-diet ones would expire. Our office drinks them contanstly, so there is no issue of their sitting around too long.
Answers:
Aspartame breaks down faster then sugar. As far as Coca-Cola goes, their diet sodas (in cans) have a 3 month code from the time of production and the regular sodas have a 9 month shelf life.
In plastic bottles, sodas tend to lose their carbonation so both regular and diet coke are given a 3 month shelf life. Non-carbonated teas and lemonades in plastic bottles will have a longer shelf life then carbonated sodas.
Basically, after a few months, aspartame just tastes nasty. I don't think it turns into anything harmful, but it is a bit unpleasant.