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- 2026 is the year of fiber, with big brands gearing up to offer more fiber-rich products.
- So we tested out Coca-Cola’s fiber-enriched Diet Coke, a drink available only in Asia.
- There were some small differences with regular Diet Coke, but we were pleasantly surprised.
Six weeks into 2026, it’s clear that this is the year of “fibermaxxing.”
Top executives of food and beverage brands have predicted that 2026 will be the year of fiber. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said fiber was the first of his three big food trend predictions for 2026, and PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta said in an October earnings call that “fiber will be the next protein.”
Coca-Cola’s CEO, James Quincey, told CNBC at the World Economic Forum in January that his customers “might see fiber creep in this year.”
Coca-Cola has been way ahead of the curve. The soft drinks company launched the Diet Coke Fiber+ drink in Asia in 2017. It’s available in Japan and other Asian markets.
Business Insider’s Singapore bureau got our hands on the drink, and we have thoughts.
A controlled experiment
We tried the fiber-enriched Diet Coke alongside its regular counterpart to see the difference.
Both drinks are advertised as sugar- and calorie-free, but the Fiber+ one contains 5 grams of soluble dietary fiber.
The Mayo Clinic advises that adults consume 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories in their daily diet. Consuming sufficient fiber has been proven beneficial for gut health and reducing the risk of colon cancer.
My editor, Cheryl Teh, bought 12 bottles of Fiber+ from a local e-commerce platform for 15.87 Singapore dollars, or $12.50.
We brought the whole bureau in for the taste test
We brought the team in for the taste test with bottles of fiber Coke and regular Diet Coke.
We had some Diet Coke connoisseurs: Matthew Loh, our military and defense reporter, said he drinks one almost every day. Others had not had the drink in months.
First reactions: underwhelmed
First order of business: the scent. While we tried to detect the Fiber+’s smell, everyone agreed it smelled like, well, Coke.
“It tastes like Diet Coke,” our real estate reporter, Amanda Goh, said on her first sip.
Loh, the Diet Coke fiend, said the carbonation hit different, then shook his head and said it was a placebo. Bureau Chief Meghan Morris said it tasted less carbonated.
Terence Ruis, our people, culture, and operations editor, said he could taste the artificial sugar in the Diet Coke. But in the Fiber+ drink, the sugar tasted more natural.
Everyone agreed on one thing: There was no major difference in taste or texture. I expected the fiber drink to look murkier, but it was perfectly clear.
Latecomers had to do a blind taste test
Two of our colleagues were out for appointments and came late to the session, which meant only one thing: They became guinea pigs for the taste test.
Our AI reporter, Lee Chong Ming, was asked to pick the fiber drink from two identical glasses.
Lee got the answer on the first try. He said the Fiber+ drink had a taste he had never tasted before, was fizzier, and had a slightly different texture.
When tech reporter Shubhangi Goel did the blind taste test, she misidentified the drinks. In her defense, she said it was because the Fiber+ drink tasted a lot better than she expected, which made her think it was the original drink.
Final verdict: Fiber+ wins
The winner was surprising.
The fiber Coke won new fans at the bureau, with five team members saying they preferred it to regular Diet Coke. However, three of our team were Diet Coke purists, while one person remained diplomatically on the fence.
Goh, when asked for a compelling reason for preferring the fiber drink, joked, “I’ll let you know tomorrow.”
And our lifestyle and culture editor, Alex Karplus, said she was tempted to finish the drink, “but I’m scared.”
To the brands: Bring on your best fiber-enriched drinks this year. Our guts are ready.
Read the full article here
