Americans Drinking Fewer Soft Drinks, More Sweetened Fake Fruit Water And Energy Drinks

(voteprime)

Maybe Americans are finally figuring out that fizzy soft drinks are delicious sweetener bombs and we should maybe roll back our consumption a little. Or we’re broke and cutting out the sugar water. Whatever the case, nationwide, carbonated soft drink sales are down 3%. What’s taking their place? Well, not tap water.

Those numbers come to us courtesy of trade publication Beverage Digest, which recently published its annual report on the beverage industry. The news is not so great, unless you’re hawking energy drinks or flavored waters. The only brands growing in the carbonated soft drink biz are energy drinks: Red Bull (up 6.4%) and Monster (up 7.7%). Rockstar’s volume is down only 1%, so it’s doing better than the category as a whole.

Another growing category? Fruit waters. Well, fruit-flavored waters: they tend to feature artificial sweeteners and no actual fruit.

Special Issue: U.S. Beverage Results for 2013 [Beverage Digest]

Soda wars turn to another front – sparkling waters [Wall Street Journal]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist