Coca-Cola has agreed to change its production in the United States to switch to good old cane sugar, abandoning corn syrup, American President Donald Trump, himself a big consumer of the most famous soft drink, announced on Wednesday.
While the food giant uses classic sucrose in Europe, American consumers swallow high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) through the bubbles.
“I discussed with Coca-Cola the use of REAL cane sugar in Coke in the United States, and they agreed,” Donald Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
“I would like to thank everyone responsible at Coca-Cola. It will be a very good decision on their part – you will see. It’s simply better!”, he rejoiced.
“We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic brand,” the American company briefly reacted on its site.
SGHF became widespread in the United States in the 1970s thanks to government subsidies for corn producers and high tariffs on cane sugar.
Affected producers
Coca-Cola’s decision could affect corn producers in the “Corn Belt”, a region of the Midwest which nevertheless represents a large pool of Donald Trump voters.
SGHF and sucrose, more commonly known as “table sugar,” are both composed of fructose and glucose. But their structure differs: SGHF contains free (unbound) fructose and glucose in varying proportions while, in sucrose, these two sugars are chemically linked.
Sugars are called “free” based on their sweetening power.
However, these structural differences do not appear to have a significant impact on health. In 2022, clinical studies have shown no major difference between SGHF and sucrose in terms of weight gain or heart health.
The only notable difference: an increase in an inflammation marker in people consuming SGHF.
American consumers sometimes have access to Mexican Coca-Cola, already produced with cane sugar, sold more expensively in certain stores because it is considered better in terms of flavor.
Donald Trump is an inveterate drinker of Diet Coca-Cola, sweetened with aspartame, a compound considered “possibly carcinogenic” by experts from the World Health Organization.
