Coca-Cola says it will use U.S. cane sugar in a new Coke, a plan pushed by Trump
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Coca-Cola says it will start selling a version of Coke made with U.S.-grown cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup. This after President Trump claimed on social media that he'd persuaded the company to make the change. The company said it appreciated Trump's enthusiasm but did not credit him for the decision. NPR's Scott Neuman has more.
SCOTT NEUMAN, BYLINE: In a social media post last week, President Trump made no mention of any health benefits from swapping high-fructose corn syrup for cane sugar in Coca-Cola. Instead, he said the change would make the soda better. But Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has railed against sugar in the past, has also been aggressively opposed to high-fructose corn syrup. Before becoming head of Health and Human Services, Kennedy shared a video criticizing what he described as...
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ROBERT F KENNEDY JR: A food supply that's loaded with high-fructose corn syrup.
NEUMAN: But what many consumers don't realize is that chemically, high-fructose corn syrup is basically the same as table sugar and regular corn syrup. That's according to David Klurfeld, an adjunct professor and nutrition expert at the Indiana University School of Public Health‐Bloomington.
DAVID KLURFELD: Regular corn syrup, which you can actually buy in the supermarket, is 100% glucose. When big corporations treat that with an enzyme, they get fructose produced. Therefore, high-fructose corn syrup.
NEUMAN: Klurfeld says there have been a few studies linking high-fructose corn syrup with Type 2 diabetes, liver problems and other obesity-related ailments. But he says the link is inconclusive.
KLURFELD: Turns out that there are so many confounding variables here. So you can't pull out this one factor and say, aha, this is it.
NEUMAN: Alice Lichtenstein is a professor of nutrition science at Tufts University. She points out that some of those earlier studies tested for way more high-fructose corn syrup than any normal person would eat or drink.
ALICE LICHTENSTEIN: Within the context of how much fructose or glucose we're consuming, there doesn't seem to be much of a metabolic effect.
NEUMAN: Lichtenstein says the problem isn't the type of sugar, but how much.
LICHTENSTEIN: If someone is drinking a beverage with high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose - cane sugar - they're still consuming a tremendous amount of added sugar.
NEUMAN: For Coca-Cola, the move could prove a win, providing a marketing boost that also placates a president.
Scott Neuman, NPR News, Washington.
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