So up until recently I thought the same. I thought “Zero Sugar” used sucralose (Splenda) and diet used aspartame. Compared them at the store and Discovered that both Mountain Dew zero sugar and diet mountain dew are sweetened with the same fake sweetener, aspartame. The two drinks taste different to me. Maybe other brands do use different sweeteners but not Pepsi it seems.
Typically, zero sugar versions include aspartame AND acesulfame K to improve the artificial sweetener flavor, where diet versions only contain aspartame.
So up until recently I thought the same. I thought “Zero Sugar” used sucralose (Splenda) and diet used aspartame. Compared them at the store and Discovered that both Mountain Dew zero sugar and diet mountain dew are sweetened with the same fake sweetener, aspartame. The two drinks taste different to me. Maybe other brands do use different sweeteners but not Pepsi it seems.
Typically, zero sugar versions include aspartame AND acesulfame K to improve the artificial sweetener flavor, where diet versions only contain aspartame.