The Coca-Cola company has agreed to replace high-fructose corn syrup with cane sugar in its drinks, US President Donald Trump has claimed.
”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 posted on his Truth Social platform on Thursday.
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Cane sugar is “just better,” he wrote, adding it would be “a very good move” by the company.
Coca-Cola has not confirmed the switch. “More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca-Cola product range will be shared soon,” a company’s spokesperson has told CNN. CEO James Quincey said in April the company was making progress on sugar reduction.
The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again initiative, named for a social movement aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has pushed for excluding “overprocessed food,” synthetic dyes, and preservatives.
Kennedy Jr. has also blamed corn-based sweeteners for obesity and chronic diseases, while also calling sugar “poison” and advocating zero-added sugar consumption.
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John Bode, president & CEO of the Corn Refiners Association, argued that fructose replacement could lead to job losses, depressed farm income, and increase imports of cane sugar – “with no nutritional benefit.”
The US Food and Drug Administration notes on its website that it is not aware that “there is a difference in safety between foods containing high-fructose corn syrup and foods containing similar amounts of sucrose, honey, or other traditional sweeteners.”
Trump, who reportedly drinks up to 12 cans of Diet Coke daily, has a special button for ordering the beverage on his desk in the Oval Office, according to the media. It reportedly alerts a staffer to bring the president another drink.