Coca-Cola agrees to use cane sugar in US sodas, Trump says
"I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "I'd like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them — You'll see. It's just better!"
Coca-Cola uses high fructose corn syrup to sweeten its U.S. products while cane sugar is used in other countries, Reuters reported.
The switch comes as the president continues to support Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s efforts to move away from certain food ingredients, like artificial dyes. Through the Make America Healthy Again initiative, the Trump Administration aims to stop food industry from contributing to chronic health problems that Americans face from obesity to heart disease.
In-N-Out: No, the chain didn't switch to '100% beef tallow,' contrary to White House claim
USA TODAY has reached out to Coca-Cola for confirmation on the president's announcement.
Contributing: Reuters
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
16 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The CNN pundit thinks the timing is all too convenient given 'The Late Show' host's firing comes as CBS' parent company awaits Trump's green light on a merger.
CNN's Jake Tapper slammed Paramount for bowing to President Donald Trump with its cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. 'Obviously, President Trump has made no secret of his hatred of being mocked—specifically, the jokes that people like Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel make at his expense,' Tapper said. He then took CBS's parent company, Paramount, to task.
Los Angeles Times
18 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
California, other Democratic-led states roll back Medicaid access for people lacking legal status
SACRAMENTO — For nearly 20 years, Maria would call her sister — a nurse in Mexico — for advice on how to manage her asthma and control her husband's diabetes instead of going to the doctor in California. She didn't have legal status, so she couldn't get health insurance and skipped routine exams, relying instead on home remedies and, at times, getting inhalers from Mexico. She insisted on using only her first name for fear of deportation. Things changed for Maria and many others in recent years when some Democratic-led states opened up their health insurance programs to low-income immigrants regardless of their legal status. Maria and her husband signed up the day the program began last year. 'It changed immensely, like from Earth to the heavens,' Maria said in Spanish of Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program. 'Having the peace of mind of getting insurance leads me to getting sick less.' At least seven states and the District of Columbia have offered coverage for immigrants, mostly since 2020. But three of them have done an about-face, ending or limiting coverage for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who aren't in the U.S. legally — California, Illinois and Minnesota. The programs cost much more than officials had projected at a time when the states are facing multibillion-dollar deficits now and in the future. In Illinois, adult immigrants ages 42 to 64 without legal status have lost their healthcare to save an estimated $404 million. All adult immigrants in Minnesota no longer have access to the state program, saving nearly $57 million. In California, no one will automatically lose coverage, but new enrollments for adults will stop in 2026 to save more than $3 billion over several years. Cuts in all three states were backed by Democratic governors who once championed expanding health coverage to immigrants. The Trump administration this week shared the home addresses, ethnicities and personal data of all Medicaid recipients with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Twenty states, including California, Illinois and Minnesota, have sued. Healthcare providers told the Associated Press that all of those factors, especially the fear of being arrested or deported, are having a chilling effect on people seeking care. And states may have to spend more money down the road because immigrants will avoid preventive healthcare and end up needing to go to safety-net hospitals. 'I feel like they continue to squeeze you more and more to the point where you'll burst,' Maria said, referencing all the uncertainties for people who are in the U.S. without legal permission. People who run free and community health clinics in California and Minnesota said patients who got on state Medicaid programs received knee replacements and heart procedures and were diagnosed for serious conditions like late-stage cancer. CommunityHealth is one of the nation's largest free clinics, serving many uninsured and underinsured immigrants in the Chicago area who have no other options for treatment. That includes the people who lost coverage July 1 when Illinois ended its Health Benefits for Immigrants Adults Program, which served about 31,500 people ages 42 to 64. One of CommunityHealth's community outreach workers and care coordinator said Eastern European patients she works with started coming in with questions about what the change meant for them. She said many of the patients also don't speak English and don't have transportation to get to clinics that can treat them. The worker spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to protect patients' privacy. Health Finders Collective in Minnesota's rural Rice and Steele counties south of Minneapolis serves low-income and underinsured patients, including large populations of Latino immigrants and Somali refugees. Executive director Charlie Mandile said his clinics are seeing patients rushing to squeeze in appointments and procedures before 19,000 people age 18 and older are kicked off insurance at the end of the year. Free and community health clinics in all three states say they will keep serving patients regardless of insurance coverage — but that might get harder after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decided this month to restrict federally qualified health centers from treating people without legal status. CommunityHealth Chief Executive Stephanie Willding said she always worried about the stability of the program because it was fully state funded, 'but truthfully, we thought that day was much, much further away.' 'People are going to die. Some people are going to go untreated,' Alicia Hardy, chief executive officer of CommuniCARE+OLE clinics in California, said of the state's Medicaid changes. 'It's hard to see the humanity in the decision-making that's happening right now.' A spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Health said ending the state's program will decrease MinnesotaCare spending in the short term, but she acknowledged healthcare costs would rise elsewhere, including uncompensated care at hospitals. Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, a Republican, said the state's program was not sustainable. 'It wasn't about trying to be non-compassionate or not caring about people,' she said. 'When we looked at the state budget, the dollars were not there to support what was passed and what was being spent.' Demuth also noted that children will still have coverage, and adults lacking permanent legal status can buy private health insurance. Healthcare providers also are worried that preventable conditions will go unmanaged, and people will avoid care until they end up in emergency rooms — where care will be available under federal law. One of those safety-net public hospitals, Cook County Health in Chicago, treated about 8,000 patients from Illinois' program last year. Dr. Erik Mikaitis, the health system's CEO, said doing so brought in $111 million in revenue. But he anticipated other providers who billed through the program could close, he said. 'Things can become unstable very quickly,' he said. State lawmakers said California's Medi-Cal changes stem from budget issues — a $12-billion deficit this year, with larger ones projected ahead. Democratic state leaders last month agreed to stop new enrollment starting in 2026 for all low-income adults without legal status. Those under 60 remaining on the program will have to pay a $30 monthly fee in 2027. States are also bracing for impact from federal policies. Cuts to Medicaid and other programs in President Trump's massive tax and spending bill include a 10% cut to the federal share of Medicaid expansion costs to states that offer health benefits to immigrants starting October 2027. California health officials estimate roughly 200,000 people will lose coverage after the first full year of restricted enrollment, though Gov. Gavin Newsom maintains that even with the rollbacks, California provides the most expansive healthcare coverage for poor adults. Every new bill requires a shift in Maria's monthly calculations to make ends meet. She believes many people won't be able to afford the $30-a-month premiums and will instead go back to self-medication or skip treatment altogether. 'It was a total triumph,' she said of Medi-Cal expansion. 'But now that all of this is coming our way, we're going backwards to a worse place.' Fear and tension about immigration raids are changing patient behavior, too. Providers told the AP that, as immigration raids ramped up, their patients were requesting more virtual appointments, not showing up to routine doctor's visits and not picking up prescriptions for their chronic conditions. Maria has the option to keep her coverage. But she is weighing the health of her family against risking what they've built in the U.S. 'It's going to be very difficult,' Maria said of her decision to remain on the program. 'If it comes to the point where my husband gets sick and his life is at risk, well then, obviously, we have to choose his life.' Nguyễn and Shastri write for the Associated Press and reported from Sacramento and Milwaukee, respectively. AP journalist Godofredo Vasquez in San Francisco contributed to this report.
New York Post
18 minutes ago
- New York Post
The bad diet habit that can make you gain weight — even when you stop
Talk about a scale fail. New research suggests that a common dieting mistake may trigger lasting changes in the body that make eating right more difficult. Worse still, the effects appear to linger long after the bad habit is corrected, quietly sabotaging your ability to maintain a healthy weight. 4 Crash diets often trap Americans in a constant cycle of losing and regaining weight. mojo_cp – Yo-yo dieting is a pattern where people restrict calories to lose weight, then slip back into old eating habits — often gaining back more than they shed and starting the cycle all over again. It's a common problem in the US, where nearly three in four adults are clinically overweight and diet culture tends to favor quick weight-loss fixes over long-term lifestyle changes. Studies estimate that up to 55% of American women and 35% of men have fallen into the yo-yo dieting trap at some point. Curious how the cycle impacts the body, researchers in France put lab mice on a similar diet rollercoaster. 4 Biological changes seen in yo-yo dieting mice may help explain eating behaviors in humans. filin174 – Over several weeks, the animals were fed alternating rounds of healthy, low-fat chow and a high-fat, high-sugar diet meant to imitate Western eating habits. Just like in humans, their weight fluctuated up and down like a yo-yo. But over time, the mice also began binging on the junk food whenever it was available — even if they'd already been fed. When researchers analyzed the mice's fecal samples, they found long-lasting changes in their gut bacteria that altered their internal metabolism. To test it further, the team transplanted the altered gut bacteria into healthy mice that hadn't been dieting. They, too, started compulsively overeating fatty, sugary foods. 4 Gut bacteria plays a critical role in weight management, including by influencing appetite regulation. Dr_Microbe – The researchers also scanned the mice's brains and found increased activity in their reward centers, the region that lights up in response to pleasurable stimuli, including food. The findings suggest that yo-yo dieting may mess with both the gut and the brain — making it tougher to resist high-calorie foods and setting the stage for overeating. While the experiment hasn't been tested in humans, the results suggest that yo-yo dieting could lead to similar changes in people as well. The researchers said further studies will be needed to fully understand the biological mechanisms at play and confirm whether the same effect happens in humans. 4 Large fluctuations in body weight have been linked to several negative health consequences. Kawee – Your gut and brain aren't the only things yo-yo dieting can mess with. 'When weight is quickly lost and regained, the regained weight is typically fat tissue rather than muscle tissue, which can increase the overall body fat percentage over time,' Melissa Hoover, a registered dietician, said in an interview with Piedmont Healthcare. One review found that 11 out of 19 studies linked a history of yo-yo dieting to higher body fat and more belly fat. Hoover also noted that most yo-yo dieters focus on cutting calories but skip the exercise habits that help maintain muscle. 'This eventually leads to loss of muscle mass and body strength,' she said. And the risks don't stop there. Yo-yo dieting has also been associated with an increased risk of developing chronic conditions like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. In fact, one study found that people who lose and regain weight on yo-yo diets are far more likely to die from heart attack or stroke than people who keep the scale on an even keel — even when that 'steady' weight is slightly chubby. Mentally, the cycle can wear people down. In studies, adults with a history of yo-yo dieting report feeling unhappy with both their health and overall quality of life.
