With one Truth Social message from President Trump, high-fructose corn syrup became the most talked-about ingredient of the summer.
The president surprised nearly everyone last week — including executives at the Coca-Cola Company — when he announced that Coke would start using cane sugar. “You’ll see,” he wrote. “It’s just better!” In the United States, almost all Coke is made with high-fructose corn syrup.
The media exploded with erroneous reports that Coca-Cola was switching sweeteners. The company, which initially demurred in a vague statement, said on an earnings call Tuesday that it will begin offering a cane sugar version of Coke in the United States this fall “to complement the company’s strong core portfolio.” But it is not replacing high-fructose corn syrup in existing products.
Eliminating high-fructose corn syrup from the American food supply is a priority of the Make America Healthy Again Commission, which was formed after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. became the health and human services secretary.
The commission’s first public report, published in May, singled out the sweetener as a potential major contributor to childhood obesity and other chronic diseases.
What exactly is high-fructose corn syrup?
It starts with an enzyme that transforms the starch into glucose. That’s the corn syrup that may be in your pantry. To make high-fructose corn syrup, other enzymes are added to corn syrup in order to convert some of the glucose to another simple sugar called fructose, also called “fruit sugar” because it occurs naturally in apples, watermelon, cherries and other fruits.
Japanese scientists working in the 1960s were the first to discover the enzyme and develop a process that made large-scale production possible. American scientists in Illinois built on the that discovery and commercialized the process. By the 1970s, American food manufacturers had begun to change their recipes for foods like cereal, ice cream, baked goods and, of course, soda.
At one point, as much as 10 percent of U.S. corn crops went to making the sweetener. Its use started falling in 2000 as food companies reacted to shifts in consumer taste and concerns over high-fructose corn syrup’s impact on health. Now the sweetener accounts for about 6 percent of the corn crop, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Is it worse for you than sugar?
The vast majority of research shows that sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are essentially identical when it comes to negative impacts on health, something both the American Medical Association and the Food and Drug Administration have agreed on.
However, several studies have suggested that high-fructose corn syrup might cause slightly more inflammation and other health issues. Fructose — in both table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup — is processed by the liver, which converts excess fructose into triglycerides, a type of fat linked to heart and liver disease.
Are there environmental concerns?
Corn, which covers more acres in the United States than any other crop, is grown with seeds created with genetically modified organisms, which some people try to avoid. The corn is herbicide-tolerant, which means it can endure heavy loads of chemicals, some of which have been linked to cancer. Herbicides have also harmed crops in neighboring fields and can have other biological impacts.
Why is it on so many people’s “do not eat” list?
For nutritionists, the biggest issue is the increase in caloric intake that has mirrored the rise in products using high-fructose corn syrup. The availability of high-fructose corn syrup has helped usher in a flood of sweet, inexpensive, ultraprocessed food that is at the center of the debate over America’s obesity crisis and other chronic health issues.
“The thing that counts is the amount of calories sugar adds,” said Marion Nestle, an emeritus professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. “But nobody talks about calories.”
Americans get too many calories from sugar, in any form. Government and university health researchers estimate that Americans consume nearly 20 teaspoons of sugar a day, with an estimated 40 percent of it from high-fructose corn syrup. National nutritional guidelines suggest 12 teaspoons or less.
Mr. Kennedy recently called sugar a poison, and nutritionists say too much of any form of it is bad for you.
Why did food and beverage companies replace natural sugars in the first place?
Cost was the biggest factor. Sugar prices were climbing in the early 1970s. At the same time, the Soviet Union and other countries began importing American corn and other grains. That demand, coupled with a fungus that damaged a large portion of the U.S. corn crop, drove corn prices up.
To take advantage, the nation’s agricultural policy shifted significantly in 1973. The government set a target price for corn: If it sold for less, the government would pay farmers the difference.
Farmers planted more corn as a result, and the food system began to absorb what became a huge overproduction problem. High-fructose corn syrup was one solution. The food industry welcomed the new ingredient, as it was much cheaper than sugar, easier to use and more stable. And, unlike sugar, it was not subject to tariffs or other global political issues.
What is Coca-Cola’s relationship with high-fructose corn syrup?
The first Coca-Cola was sold for a nickel at an Atlanta pharmacy in 1886 as a tonic. Sugar-sweetened syrup flavored with essential oils like cinnamon, orange and nutmeg — and stimulants, including the coca leaf and the kola nut — were added to carbonated water to order. While the company has swapped ingredients and made advancements in how the drink is mixed and sold, its focus has always been on the syrup’s closely guarded formula, known as Merchandise 7X.
Sugar was not viewed as essential to the drink’s success, so in the 1970s the company began experimenting with cheaper, more stable high-fructose corn syrup. By 1985, all Coke in the United States was made with high-fructose corn syrup. Coca-Cola beverages sold globally continued to use sugar.
Will Coca-Cola eliminate high-fructose corn syrup from its products entirely?
It’s not very likely. Retooling the Coke formula from liquid corn syrup to crystallized sugar would have repercussions throughout the supply chain. The Corn Refiners Association, which represents high-fructose corn syrup producers, said the change threatens the jobs of some of the 10,000 people who work in corn refining. Eliminating high-fructose corn syrup altogether could erase $5.1 billion in revenue to farmers, according to the association.
The change also would impact more than 60 independent bottlers who contract with Coca-Cola, and the hundreds of thousands of restaurants that buy Coke syrup to mix with carbonated water in fountain dispensers.
The price of a Coke would likely go up, which would hurt sales. Refined white sugar this year costs $1.01 a pound compared with 35 cents a pound for high-fructose corn syrup, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Cane sugar grows in only three states. To get enough for a complete switch, the company would have to import sugar from Mexico, a move subject to tariffs and other supply pressures. Or, it could use some beet sugar, which is more plentiful in the United States, but uses genetically modified seeds.
Would Coke taste better?
Coca-Cola is very sensitive to changing the taste of its Coke product. In 1985, it suffered through one of the biggest new product failures in corporate history when it introduced a sweeter, less sharp version it called “New Coke.” Within three months it went back to what it started calling “Coca-Cola Classic.”
However, Coke made with cane sugar already has a devoted fan base. Even some Coca-Cola executives say that a Coke made with cane sugar has a cleaner, sharper taste. The company makes Coke with cane sugar in small quantities in the United States, offering a kosher, grain-free version for Passover and limited-time nostalgic bottlings.
Mexican Coke, which is sweetened with cane sugar and bottled in glass, has been growing in popularity in the United States since the late 1990s when it started showing up in stores and restaurants along the border. By 2010, food trendsetters were seeking it out. Now it’s available at major grocery chains around the country — and soon it will share shelf space with the new American version of cane sugar Coke.
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Kim Severson is an Atlanta-based reporter who covers the nation’s food culture and contributes to NYT Cooking.
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