You may have heard that the Coca-Cola Company has just launched a new drink that goes by the name of Enviga that, it is claimed, actually helps us to burn calories. The drink contains both caffeine and an extract of green tea that, we are told, stimulate the metabolism. Apparently, drinking three cans of Enviga should help us burn 60-100 calories without doing a thing.

When food companies focus on one or two components of a foodstuff I get nervous. What is most important to focus on is the health effects of a food as a whole. Just this week, for instance, research was published that soft drinks may increase the risk of osteoporosis, and some evidence actually has suggested caffeine might be one of the culprits here.

I am unable to find anywhere on the web an ingredients list for Enviga, but I would expect that one or more artificial sweeteners will make an appearance here. Not only is there not any good research to suggest that artificial sweeteners actually help weight loss, there is also some evidence which suggests they may actually increase our appetite which has important implications for weight [1, 2]. Also, while a lot of industry funded studies say artificial sweeteners are safe, a lot of independently-funded studies suggest they are not. Just last year a study was published in which rats fed doses of aspartame (NutraSweet) comparable with permitted levels in our diet were found to be at increased risk of several forms of cancer including lymphoma and leukaemia (cancer of the white blood cells) [3].

There is, of course, another potential

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