This eek I reached out for a can of new Diet Coke Plus, available at finer supermarkets -- and some supermarkets that have needed a cleanup on Aisle 6 since 1965.

The "Plus" in Diet Coke Plus is vitamins and minerals. Yep, now your favorite soda is actually good for you. It's got niacin, vitamins B-6 and B-12, and zinc and magnesium. "Junior, how many times have I told you to stop eating that junky broccoli! Now, drink your soda so you'll grow up strong!"

Here's the blueprint: Diet Coke with a shot of vitamins and minerals.

Total calories: 0. Fat grams: 0. Dietary fiber: 0 grams. Carbs: 0 grams. Manufacturer's suggested retail price: $2.99 for a six-pack, but you can find it cheaper on sale.

Diet Coke Plus joins the ever-widening family of skinny diet sodas from Coca-Cola, which includes: Diet Coke (the No. 1 diet soft drink in the world), Caffeine-Free Diet Coke, Diet Coke With Lime, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet Coke Sweetened With Splenda, Coke Zero, Cherry Coke Zero and Vanilla Coke Zero. Oh, and Tab.

Does one soda company really need to put out so many varieties of basically the same soft drinkfi The answer is yes, because competition is rough in the soda aisle. None of Coke's other diet drinks is going away, either. Plus, both Pepsi and 7-Up have vitamin-enriched versions of their flagship sodas in supermarkets. Coke is just keeping up with the Joneses.

Ask yourself -- and be honest -- is your diet so horribly ravaged with greasy burgers, pizza, pork rinds and Slim Jims that you need a vitamin-fortified soda to keep you standing uprightfi

Maybe so. Just remember, it's not like Diet Coke Plus is going to put One-A-Day or Flintstones Vitamins out of business. Each 12-ounce can of Diet Coke Plus furnishes only 25 percent of your Daily Value for niacin and vitamins B-6 and B-12, and 15 percent of your Daily Value for zinc and magnesium. But drink four of these babies and you're good to go for B-6 and B-12 for the day. You'll also burp a lot. It's only a little bit of vitamins ... but every little bit helps, I guess.

Diet Coke Plus has one of the more tongue-twisty lists of ingredients: water, magnesium sulfate, caramel color, phosphoric acid, potassium sorbate and potassium benzoate, aspartame, natural flavors, acesulfame potassium, caffeine, zinc gluconate, niacinamide, pyridoxine hydrochloride and cyanocobalamin. Is that the list of ingredients, or the final round of the National Spelling Beefi By the way, I think cyanocobalamin tastes fantastic!

Check out the No. 2 ingredient in Diet Coke Plus -- magnesium sulfate. That's epsom salts.

Not only will Diet Coke Plus quench your thirst on a hot, sunny day, but you can also pour it in your bathtub and take a nice soak!

Now, the bottom-line question: Does Diet Coke Plus taste any goodfi It tastes like regular Diet Coke. Whether that's good or bad depends on whether you're a Diet Coke or a Diet Pepsi person. I'm in the middle. I'm a Coke Zero, Diet Pepsi and -- here's a weird one -- water guy.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B6.