Forever on the lookout for new diet or light beverages, I picked up a two-liter Diet Cherry 7UP Antioxidant. I usually snub Diet 7UP, as Sprite Zero or Diet Sierra Mist are my no-calorie "lemon-lime" mass-market beverages of choice, but this flavor attracted my attention primarily because of its garish hue. I initially thought the light-pink color signaled some sort of corporate nod to a breast cancer foundation.

Diet Cherry 7UP promises a "splash" of antioxidants along with the same great taste as regular Cherry 7UP. I vaguely remembered liking Cherry 7UP when I tried it a few years ago, and hey, I could always use more antioxidants. There's some thought, however, that excessive intake of supplement antioxidants can diminish the benefits of exercise, so a "splash" seemed just fine.

The faux cherry taste combined with the heavy carbonation was startling at first, and I briefly had a flashback of imbibing some unusually bubbly cherry cough syrup as a kid. But after a few sips, the flavor mellowed considerably and I felt like I was drinking regular 7UP with some crisp fruit overtones.

I harbor no illusions that Diet Cherry 7UP is healthful, though it does provide 10 percent of the recommended daily amount of Vitamin E. And it's nice to think a diet soda enhanced with suspect artificial flavors and sweeteners actually may in some extremely minute way prevent cancer or Alzheimer's...even if it's eating holes in my bones by sucking the calcium out of my body. Cheers.