Is High-Fructose Corn Syrup Worse for You Than Sugar?
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.
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