Are you allergic to Sprite Zero?

Before today, I’d never tried a Sprite Zero, and the jury is still out as to whether or not I’ll drink another any time soon.
While buying some gas this morning at the Old Stage Road Grocery between Repton and Excel, I found myself scanning their drink coolers for something new when my eyes settled on a 20-ounce bottle of Sprite Zero. Whereas a regular bottle of Sprite is green, Sprite Zero is clear, looking almost like water (which it mostly is).
I don’t know if Sprite Zero qualifies as a health drink, but it doesn’t contain much in the way of what people expect when they’re looking for a soft drink. Sprite Zero contains no sugar, no caffeine and zero calories.
As it always goes with something to eat or drink, people usually want to know one thing: How does it taste?
The short answer is that it doesn’t taste bad, and it’ll definitely quench your thirst. I’d say that it tastes like water that’s been dosed with a healthy helping of artificial sweetener.
As you might expect the drink’s ingredients include carbonated water, citric acid, “natural flavors” and a long list of other unpronounceable ingredients. The ingredients list also notes that Sprite Zero contains phenylalanine. This ingredient is listed on the bottle in all capital letters and in bold face print (as if it’s some kind of warning).
Having no idea of what phenylalanine actually is, I looked it up. According to Wikipedia, it’s an amino acid found naturally in the breast milk of animals (!).
“It is used in the manufacture of food and drink products and sold as a nutritional supplement for its reputed analgesic and antidepressant effects,” the article says.
Apparently, this chemical is listed specially on drink bottles because some people are born with a rare genetic disorder called phenylketonuria, which makes them unable to properly metabolise phenylalanine and requires them to limit their intake of the chemical.