Coca-Cola will run ads starting Wednesday defending the artificial sweeteners used in its diet sodas. A print ad is set to run in Wednesday's USA Today in the Atlanta area, followed by the Atlanta Journal Constitution on Thursday and the Chicago Tribune next week. According to a USA Today report, the ads run under a headline reading, "Quality Products You Can Always Feel Good About," and offer to share third-party studies with consumers on the benefits of low-calorie sweeteners.

Sales volumes of diet soda have fallen faster than those of their regular-calorie counterparts- last year, sales of Diet Coke fell 3 percent compared to original Coke's 1 percent, while Diet Pepsi sales dropped 6.2 percent compared to original Pepsi's 3.4 percent.