Trust Coca-Cola to diversify its portfolio of beverages. The soft drink giants will be partnering with Sanofi, a global healthcare company to launch a line of beauty drinks. Rather fittingly, from a commercial and fashionable point of view, the new line of beverages will be launched in France.

According to reports, the drinks will be positioned under the Oenobiol Beautific brand, but both Coca-Cola and Sanofi have declined to provide further details. The French business unit of Coca-Cola however have issued a statement that the drinks, which are made of mineral water, fruit juice and nutrition additives, will only be available in small scale volumes, sold only in a handful of selected pharmacies in the country.

Coca-Cola’s partner in this venture, Sanofi, is a drug maker based in Paris which produces nutritional supplements for skin and hair care. No surprise then that the Oenobiol line of drinks will apparently ‘help strengthen hair and nails, embellish skin, lose weight and improve vitality’, or so it is claimed.

This however isn’t the first time Coca-Cola have towed the ‘health’ aspect owing to the concerns surrounding sugary drinks.  Just earlier this year the beverage maker introduced a version of Sprite made with Stevia, a natural sweetener which claims to have zero calories. But as far as the miraculous claims for Oenobiol, Coca-Cola would be wise to take heed of their previous joint venture, which also promised health gains.

In 2006, Coca-Cola and Nestle produced a Green Tea- flavoured diet soda called Enviga, with claims that the drink would burn more calories than it contained. In 2009 however, industry watchdogs disputed the authenticity of the beverage, which caused both Coca-Cola and Nestle to add disclosures citing any weight loss benefits and/ or weight loss will only be possible through diet and exercise.

But whether or not Oenobiol will face the same flak remains to be seen. But Coca-Cola has apparently put some faith in this new line of drinks as they attempt to push forward stagnant sales in Europe. For their sake, let’s hope they’re right but we’ll happily stick to regular Coke all the same.