Diet drinks found to have high levels of caffeine

actually have more caffeine in them than their non-diet counterparts.
People tend to assume that drinks labelled as “diet” are healthier, and, generally, they will be. However, as companies are not legally required, at the moment, to label how much caffeine is in their drinks, people don’t know how much they contain.
This is bad news as parents often buy diet drinks to give to children because their lower sugar level should, theoretically, try and prevent children from becoming hyperactive, but caffeine can also have this effect.
Laboratory tests have reportedly found that Diet Coke contained 30mg more caffeine per litre than regular Coca-Cola which has 109mg per litre.
Diet Pepsi was found to similarly have a higher concentration of caffeine in it than its regular counterpart, as were others, including own brand supermarket colas.
In December, new EU legislations will come into play which means high levels of caffeine in drinks will have to be clearly labelled on packaging or cans.
Although this sounds like progress, the high levels of caffeine that has to be labelled will be set at 150mg per litre, which means a lot of drinks, including Diet Coke, won’t come under this threshold and so won’t require a warning.
Some drinks companies have said that the amount of caffeine in their products is what lends itself to the distinct flavours, but others have likened it to giving a cup of coffee to a young child.
A spokesperson for Coca-Cola said that they “clearly indicate the amount of caffeine in our drinks on our website.”