As consumers slowly lose interest in diet beverages and in sodas overall, PepsiCo is out to follow changes in consumers’ sweetener tastes. One change is that people just aren’t into aspartame as much as they used to be, due to a combination of flavor and health concerns. As the quest for a palatable non-calorie sweetener continues, Pepsi is replacing aspartame wtih sucralose in their diet beverages.

This causes problems for people who are sensitive to Splenda: many diet drink buyers complain that it causes gastrointestinal distress, for example. “Diet cola drinkers in the U.S. told us they wanted aspartame-free Diet Pepsi and we’re delivering,” a company representative explained to CNBC. Soft drink companies have been experimenting mostly with sucralose and stevia, including slipping small amounts of both of those theoretically more “natural” sweeteners in regular sodas in order to cut calories per servicing.

It used to be that Coca-Cola was the top-selling soft drink in the United States, and Diet Coke came in second. Now regular Pepsi is the top seller, as consumers have apparently decided that we would rather avoid soft drinks entirely rather than buy diet drinks to avoid calories.

Pepsi to ditch aspartame in Diet Pepsi [CNBC]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.