Coca-Cola has just added a new line of cola drink known as Coke Life or Coca-Cola Life.

The new drink is sold in a container resembling the usual Coke except that it has the stylized word "life" beneath the name and a green color, which was likely chosen to represent nature.

Coke Life went through a marketing test trial before it was released last year in Chile and Argentina. It will be launched in the U.K. this autumn.

Coke Life contains stevia. The other Coke drinks are sweetened as follows: corn syrup is used in the regular Coke; aspartame is used instead for Diet Coke; and cane sugar is used for regular Coke in Mexico. Coca-Cola is advertising stevia as a healthy and natural ingredient, but Coke Life retains a significant portion of regular Coke's sugar amount as well as calories. Coke Life contains only about two-thirds as much sugar and two-thirds as many calories, but even that is a quarter of the recommended daily sugar intake for kids.

Stevia leaf extract is taken from the stevia plant. It is free of calories and is sweeter than table sugar, but regular sugar is also used to sweeten the drink which is why it is not calorie-free as Coke Zero and Diet Coke are.

Coke Life has 89 calories when compared to regular Coke's 139 calories. Diet Coke and Coke Zero, on the other hand, both have '0' calories but they are questionable in their health impact. The artificial sweetener aspartame in particular is linked to an increase in cravings for real sugar, which may well obliterate any advantage it has over conventional sweeteners.

The soda sales of Coca-Cola have declined lately. The change is being blamed on two health concerns that hit the company in recent years. Not only does aspartame stimulate weight gain but protests from the anti-sugar movement against the company's high-sugar and calorie beverages have hurt its public image as well. This decline in sales has prompted Coca-Cola to respond by creating Coke Life.