Still As Life

So you’ve got your normal V, then theres your sugar free variety, aptly called “V Sugar Free”.

This variety of V actually tastes very much like the regular stuff. Like any sugar free variant, it does taste somewhat worse than the original, but it’s not much worse.

They are currently $2.20 a can at Coles and are available individually or in 4 packs. V Sugar Free is also available in a 35oml bottle.

Theres not much more I can say about it really. It’s not a bad drink, it’s not a good drink. Is it healthier? Good question. I say no, it is worse for you than the regular stuff. I will explain why after the ingredients list below.

V Sugar Free Nutritional Information

The label indicates the following per 100ml:

This is identical to that of the regular V, and also very similar to Coles Zu Sublime Energy Drink.

V Sugar Free has the standard warning not to drink more than 2 cans per day.

V Sugar Free Ingredients

The ingredients according to the can are as follows:

Carbonated water, sugar, acidity regulators (citric acid, sodium citrate), taurine, guarana extract (0.12%), sweeteners (acesulfame potassium, aspartame), colour (caramel (derived from wheat)), glucuronolactone, caffeine, inositol, thickener (xanthan gum) vitamins (niacin (B3), pantothenic acid, B6, B2, B12), flavours. Contains phenylalanine.

So why do I believe that the sugar free variant of V is worse for you than regular V?

You may have noticed the little warning at the end of the ingredients, contains phenylalanine. This is because one of the artificial sweeteners used in place of the sugar, aspartame, is a source of phenylalanine. Now, is phenylalanine bad? No, it’s a naturally occurring amino acid. It’s in proteins and meats and so on. However, according to 3DChem, aspartame has roughly the same amount of calories as regular table sugar. So, you are getting the same amount of calories, it’s just not sugar. In addition to that, there are health problems linked to aspartame, particularly related to people with PKU (phenylketonurics) and diabetics. It seems that there are also a lot of diseases that are related to aspartame, there is a fair amount of information about this on sweetpoison.com, it’s definitely worth a read if you are interested in finding out more about aspartame.

The Aspartame Information Center is adamant that the synthetic chemical is safe. While that may be so, I personally think that the amount of it that can be found in diet drinks would be cause to make it unsafe if continually ingested in those sorts of quantities on a regular basis and is thus why I generally avoid drinking diet drinks, as I said, earlier, it’s around the same amount of calories, so there is no benefit to it in my opinion (plus diet drinks generally taste worse). It’s up to you to decide what you think about it though and do more of your own research into it.

Further reading on aspartame and phenylalanine:

• Sweet Poison
• Wikipedia - Phenylalanine
• What is PKU?
• 3DChem
• Aspartame Information Center

V Sugar Free Ratings

Quantity - 250ml
2.5/5

Price - $2.20
3/5

Flavour
1/5

Overall
2/5

Popularity: 59% [?]

V is manufactured by Frucor Beverages in New Zealand and is one of the first energy drinks in a can to appear on the market in Australia (on their website, V acknowledge Red Bull as being the first) and it seems to have remained one of the most popular.

I refer to V a lot in other energy drink reviews, so I thought it’s about time I wrote about it.

V has a unique taste that I can’t really compare to anything. I have heard it is meant to be a lime flavour, but aside from the green theme on the cans and their website, there is nothing that I can find from V as to what flavour it is actually meant to be.

I regularly refer to V as one of the worst tasting energy drinks, but I will admit, that there is a time when I liked it, and before I did this review, it has probably been 3 months since the last time I had V. I find that the taste of V is very easy to get sick of reasonably quickly. I didn’t mind it when I had it today, but I would definitely be over it if I had much more.

They are currently $2.20 a can at Coles and are available individually, in 4 packs, 6 packs, and occasionally you find them in an 8 pack (6x V and 2x V Berry). V is also available in a 35oml bottle.

V Nutritional Information

The label indicates the following per 100ml:

If you read my earlier review on the Coles Zu Sublime Energy Drink, you may have noticed that the Zu additives are near identical to the additives in V, the only real difference being that V has 10mg extra of Inositol.

V has the standard warning not to drink more than 2 cans per day.

V Ingredients

The ingredients according to the can are as follows:

Carbonated water, sugar, acidity regulators (citric acid, sodium citrate), taurine, guarana extract (0.12%), colour (caramel (derived from wheat)), glucuronolactone, caffeine, inositol, vitamins (niacin (B3), pantothenic acid, B6, B2, B12), flavours.

V Ratings

Quantity - 250ml
2.5/5

Price - $2.20
3/5

Flavour
1.5/5

Overall
2.5/5

Popularity: 85% [?]

Can anyone else say awesome?

I’m a fan of good ice coffee, and I really like the normal Ice Break Iced Coffee, so I figured hey, why not try this new one, Ice Break Loaded which is basically the normal ice coffee but with added guarana.

It tastes slightly different to the regular Ice Break, but it’s definitely not a bad difference, it just tastes like stronger coffee.

It doesn’t have all the extra additives of other energy drinks, which could be a good or a bad thing depending on your point of view.

Ice Break Loaded are currently $2.89 for a 500ml bottle at Coles. This makes it roughly the same price as the cheaper energy drinks like Coles Zu Sublime and Ballistic.

Ice Break Loaded Ingredients

The ingredients are simple:

1. Reduced fat milk (95% where 1.6% is milk fat)
2. Sugar
3. Coffee (0.5%)
4. Guarana extract (0.5%)

According to the nutritional information label, there is 32mg of caffeine per 100g. This is on par with the average amount in energy drinks in my experience thus far. It doesn’t list a quantity for guarana, but given that the ingredients indicate that it is the same percentage as coffee, I would assume that there would be around the same amount of guarana per 100g as there is caffeine, 32mg. This is higher than the average energy drink which seems to be around 10mg per 100g.

It is probably worth noting that the standard Ice Break has 23mg of caffeine per 100g, so there is added caffeine as well.

My assumptions are, that this is probably a healthier alternative to the regular energy drinks as this is milk based and doesn’t have a huge amount of anything unhealthy. There is 9.3g of sugar per 100ml and thats about it. By comparison, there is 10.6g of sugar per 100ml in a can of V.

Ice Break Loaded Ratings

Quantity - 500ml
4.5/5

Price - $2.89
4/5

Flavour
4.5/5

Overall
4.5/5

For anyone that’s interested, the photo in this article was taken on my new Sony Ericsson K850i.

Popularity: 100% [?]

I went and saw 10000 BC last night, what can I say? It was average.

The CGI in it was great, but that was probably the only redeeming quality of the movie.

10-15 minutes into the movie and there were already things that I can only call silly mistakes.

For example, when they decide to hunt the mammoth and the mammoth appear over a hill and that is when they are first seen and heard. That’s all well and good, but the amount of noise they were making, it would have been impossible to not hear them sooner. Then when they are actually hunting them, they are creeping towards them from upwind. It is established earlier on that they have hunted mammoth before, every time the mammoth pass. So naturally, wouldn’t the mammoth associate their scent with a threat and panic before the tribe got anywhere near close enough to them? Seeing as how they are upwind from the mammoth and all. It is particularly obvious that they are upwind because the grass can be seen blowing in the direction of the mammoth. Now, I know it’s just a movie, but that’s a pretty simple thing that could have been avoided.

Another thing I had a particularly big problem with is that there were ships, ships more advanced then the Egyptian ships of later times, yet Egypt had the first real ships.

Then of course there was the final section of the movie where it was quite evident they were meant to be in Egypt, with the Nile river and the pyramids being built, along with a cartoonish Sphinx.

Aside from all these things, there is the language question. D’Leh, the hero of the story, in his travels meets up with around 6 other tribes, the first of which is many days travel from his own tribe. Now, the leader of this tribe, Nakudu, is explained as being able to speak his words because D’Leh’s father, the previous leader of his tribe, had come to find new lands and had taught the leader of the other tribe his words. That’s all well and good. Then there are the other tribes, including ones that are days away from the first, where Nakudu is able to translate for. He is even able to translate the words of what I can only assume are the Egyptians, a people he is established as having never met and never gotten anywhere near where they are from. Maybe he is just a linguistic whiz, but I doubt it.

Of course there were then plenty more anachronisms, but to go through all of them would take a long time, and even then I would still undoubtedly miss some.

The acting was fairly reasonable. There were occasional spots where it was bad, but most of the movie retained the same average level of acting. I would not put any of it in the outstanding, or even above average categories, but in general it was reasonable.

The average user rating on IMDB at the time of writing this is 5.0/10, and I agree with that rating entirely.

If you haven’t yet seen it yet, here’s the trailer:

Popularity: 28% [?]

As with many other products that Coles do their own brand of, Coles have brought out their own energy drink, “Coles Zu Energy”. It is available in two flavours, today I will be reviewing the Sublime flavour. If you are looking for the Ballistic flavour, have a look at my “Coles Zu Ballistic Energy Drink” page.

Coles have really been pushing these drinks, at market day back in week 1 of uni, Coles had a stall setup where they were giving out heaps of cans of both flavours for free. There was no other energy drink company present at market day at all, so Coles pretty much had a free reign.

The Sublime flavour is meant to be a lime flavour similar to the taste of the standard V flavour. However, in my opinion it is far better. The regular V flavour doesn’t sit too well with me, but Coles Zu Energy Sublime is very nice. It doesn’t taste anything like lime, but it is good.

Each can is an average size of 250ml and as you can see from the photo, the colour of it is not that appealing, but it does taste much better than it looks.

They are currently $1.49 a can at Coles.

Coles Zu Sublime Nutritional Information

The label indicates the following per 100ml:

It is recommended on the can not to drink more than 2 per day which is a pretty standard warning.

Coles definitely did something right with this one, it tastes great and has a similar level of energy additives to the more expensive energy drinks. It does seem to sometimes coat your mouth with what I assume is a layer of sugar, I suppose this is something to be expected from a cheaper drink though. It doesn’t always happen, just sometimes, most often when I am eating pizza as well. So it may be something to do with that mix somehow.

Coles Zu Sublime Ratings

Quantity - 250ml
2.5/5

Price - $1.49
4.5/5

Flavour
3/5

Overall
3/5

Popularity: 55% [?]