Coca-Cola agreed to modify its production in the United States to go to the good old cane sugar, abandoning corn syrup, US President Donald Trump, himself a great consumer of the most famous drinks on Wednesday.
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While the agrifood giant uses conventional sucrose in Europe, American consumers swallow through the bubbles of corn syrup with high fructose (SGHF).
“I discussed Coca-Cola with the use of real cane sugar in the coca in the United States, and they accepted,” wrote Donald Trump on his Truth Social network.
“I would like to thank all Coca-Cola officials. It will be a very good decision on their part – you will see. It’s just better! “He was delighted.
AFP
“We appreciate the enthusiasm of President Trump for our emblematic brand,” reacted the American company on his site briefly.
The SGHF spread to the United States in the 1970s thanks to government subsidies granted to corn producers and high customs duties on cane sugar.
Coca-Cola’s decision could affect corn producers in the “Corn Belt”, a midwest region, which nevertheless represents an important 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: the SGHF contains fructose and free glucose (not linked) in variable proportions while, in sucrose, these two sugars are chemically linked.
The sugars are said to be “free” according to their sweet power.
AFP
However, these structural differences do not seem to have a significant impact on health. In 2022, clinical studies made it possible to see the lack of major difference between SGHF and sucrose in terms of weight gain or heart health.
The only notable difference: an increase in a marker of inflammation in people consuming SGHF.
American consumers sometimes have access to the Mexican Coca-Cola, already produced with cane sugar, sold more expensive in certain stores, because it is considered better in terms of flavor.
Donald Trump is him an inveterate drinker of Coca-Cola Light, watered down to Aspartame, a compound considered to be “perhaps carcinogenic” by experts from the World Health Organization.
