{"id":14624,"date":"2025-07-22T04:36:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T04:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/14624\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T04:36:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T04:36:12","slug":"trump-says-coke-will-make-the-switch-to-cane-sugar-is-it-actually-healthier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/14624\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump Says Coke Will Make the Switch to Cane Sugar\u2014Is It Actually Healthier?"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump posted on social media<\/a> Wednesday that Coca-Cola has agreed to use cane sugar in regular Coke sold in the U.S. \u201cThis will be a very good move by them \u2014 You\u2019ll see. It\u2019s just better!\u201d he wrote.\n<\/p>\n

According to the Associated Press<\/a>, Coca-Cola has yet to confirm the switch\u2014but the announcement raises questions about what the potential change would actually mean for your health. Here\u2019s what nutrition experts think.\n<\/p>\n

American Coke is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, a liquid sweetener made from cornstarch. It\u2019s a refined sugar<\/a>, meaning it comes from natural sources but has been processed to remove other nutrients, leaving only pure sugar.\n<\/p>\n

Coke was originally made with cane sugar, but in the early 1980s, the company switched to high-fructose corn syrup, a cheaper sweetener.\n<\/p>\n

Many other parts of the world still make Coke with cane sugar. For instance, Mexican Coke, sold in the classic glass bottles in the U.S., still uses cane sugar.\n<\/p>\n

Coke with cane sugar isn\u2019t any healthier than Coke sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, experts said. In fact, the sweeteners are quite similar.\n<\/p>\n

Cane sugar, which comes from sugarcane or sugar beets, is also a refined sugar. \u201cCane sugar on the surface may seem healthier because it\u2019s \u2018natural,\u2019 but this halo effect stops there,\u201d Lisa Moskovitz, RD, CDN<\/a>, CEO of the NY Nutrition Group and author of The Core 3 Healthy Eating Plan, told Health in an email.\n<\/p>\n

The sweeteners have similar molecular make-ups\u2014both containing about a 50\/50 split of simple sugars fructose and glucose\u2014and are digested the same way in your body.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOur bodies aren\u2019t going to know if that\u2019s cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup. We just know that it is sugar and we need to break that down,\u201d Caroline Susie, RDN, LD<\/a>, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics with a private practice in Dallas, told Health.\n<\/p>\n

Susie said consuming an excessive amount of any refined sugar can lead to a higher risk of weight gain, type 2 diabetes<\/a>, heart disease, and fatty liver disease<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s added sugar,\u201d she said. \u201cThose added sugars really do add up.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the occasional soda is okay, experts don\u2019t recommend it on a regular basis.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether soda is sweetened with cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, it\u2019s still an empty-calorie, blood glucose-spiking beverage,\u201d Moskovitz said.\n<\/p>\n

Diet soda, containing no sugar or calories, is a slightly better option, but experts still don\u2019t recommend it. \u201cSoda\u2014regular or diet\u2014provides zero nutrients,\u201d Susie explained.\n<\/p>\n

The gold standard for hydration is water, Susie said, and she also recommends unsweetened tea and sparkling water.\n<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re really craving a soda, Moskovitz suggests seltzer<\/a> with a splash of juice or flavored with fruit, such as berries, oranges, or limes.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"President Donald Trump posted on social media Wednesday that Coca-Cola has agreed to use cane sugar in regular…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[102,6636,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-14624","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-nutrition","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}