Coca-Cola has begun selling a U.S. version of its flagship soda sweetened with American cane sugar, a move triggered by pressure from President Donald Trump and aligned with his Make America Healthy Again agenda.
The company is selling “a new 12-ounce single-serve glass bottle in select U.S. markets, offering consumers a classic and timeless way to enjoy their Coca-Cola Original Taste made with U.S. cane sugar,” a Coca-Cola spokesperson told the New York Post.
In July, after Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he had persuaded the beverage giant to switch to “REAL Cane Sugar,” Coca-Cola said it would add a cane-sugar variant to its U.S. offering this fall.
Several international versions of Coke use cane sugar, including Mexican Coke, which the company started importing to Texas in the early 2000s.
It has since gained a cultlike following. Fans of Mexican Coke have argued cane sugar gives the soda a “cleaner,” “sharper” taste, according to the Post.
Participants in blind taste tests also tend to choose the cane sugar-sweetened option, according to The New York Times.
Coca-Cola already uses cane sugar in other beverages sold in the U.S., including Simply Lemonade, Gold Peak tea, and Costa coffee. It made the switch to high-fructose corn syrup, which is less expensive, in its namesake soft drinks years ago.
But Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has railed against the ingredient during his Make America Healthy Again campaign, even calling it “poison.”
“Clearly it is linked to the obesity epidemic. It’s linked to the diabetes epidemic,” Kennedy said in 2023 on “The Breakfast Club,” a radio show, according to the Post.
“If you’re going to drink Coca-Cola, drink a Mexican Coke because they don’t have it in it.”
After Steak ‘n Shake announced it would start offering Coca-Cola with real cane sugar at its restaurants, Kennedy wrote in a post on X: “MAHA is winning.”
The company’s rollout of real cane sugar Coke will be staggered, as it faces several supply chain snags.
Chief Financial Officer John Murphy told Bloomberg the ability to bottle the cane sugar drink in glass bottles needs to expand before the new drink can be distributed nationwide.
Experts have warned that swapping out one sugar with another won’t do much to make the drinks healthier.
Rather, consumers should be focused on drinking fewer sugary beverages.
“Our bodies aren’t going to know if that’s cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup,” Caroline Susie, spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a registered dietitian nutritionist, told Health.
“We just know that it is sugar and we need to break that down.”
The Food and Drug Administration has said it is “not aware of any evidence” that there is a difference in safety between high-fructose corn syrup and other sweeteners, such as sucrose or honey.
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