Donald Trump is enamored with Coca-Cola. In January, he smiled from ear to ear in a photograph with the corporate’s CEO, who gifted him a particular Coke bottle commemorating his inauguration. When Trump formally returned to the Oval Workplace as president just a few days later, his desk was already arrange because it had been in his first time period: with a button to summon a bottle of Weight-reduction plan Coke. Between sips of the fizzy drink (at one level, he reportedly drank as much as 12 cans a day), the president has apparently been working the corporate behind the scenes. Yesterday, he introduced on Fact Social that Coke has agreed to start out making its signature soda with “REAL Cane Sugar” reasonably than high-fructose corn syrup. “I’d wish to thank all of these in authority at Coca-Cola,” he wrote.
To this point, little else is understood in regards to the supposed deal. I requested Coke for extra data however didn’t hear again. The corporate has but to even verify that it has agreed to something in any respect. (“Extra particulars on new modern choices inside our Coca-Cola product vary can be shared quickly,” an organization spokesman informed The New York Instances earlier at this time.) Though the transfer could appear random, it follows a sample of Trump attempting to attain straightforward political factors—particularly throughout a second when his base is at conflict with itself over the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The clearest argument for cane sugar over corn syrup is style. “You’ll see. It’s simply higher!” Trump mentioned on Fact Social. Coke is made with cane sugar in Mexico and lots of different international locations, and “Mexican Coke” has lengthy had a cult following in america. Trump may be doing the “Make America wholesome once more” motion a stable. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has targeted on high-fructose corn syrup as a serious contributor to diabetes and weight problems. “Thanks, @POTUS!,” Kennedy wrote on X following the announcement.
The style argument is truthful sufficient. But when Trump does assume People’ well being is at stake in a change from high-fructose corn syrup to cane sugar, he’s counting on some very confused reasoning. Like many MAHA priorities, the change is healthier on paper than in observe. Kennedy might oppose high-fructose corn syrup, however he has additionally referred to as sugar “poison.” He’s proper to be cautious of each, as a result of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are, by and enormous, the identical factor. A number of impartial meta-analyses have discovered that there’s little distinction between the 2 with regards to well being metrics similar to weight, blood stress, and ldl cholesterol. The 2 merchandise “have almost an identical metabolic results,” Dariush Mozaffarian, the director of Tuft College’s Meals Is Drugs Institute, informed me. Trump is actually claiming that he received Coke to agree to change its sugar … for sugar.
If Trump wished to make use of Coke as a lever to enhance People’ well being, he would want to concentrate on ensuring as few individuals drink the stuff as doable. On the earth of public well being, soda is a scourge. Consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks has been tied to elevated physique weight, diabetes, and coronary heart illness. These drinks are the most important supply of added sugar within the American food plan. The Trump administration, to its credit score, has spent the previous a number of months attempting to mood america’ insatiable soda behavior. On the urging of RFK Jr. and different prime officers, six states—Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, and Utah—have experimented with bans on the acquisition of soda utilizing SNAP advantages.
However at instances, RFK Jr. has appeared to lose the plot on sugar. It’s among the many greatest issues with the American food plan, however it hasn’t been Kennedy’s major focus as well being secretary. He has spent extra effort and time making an attempt to crack down on artificial meals dyes. For the previous a number of months, Kennedy has been pressuring meals corporations to voluntarily take away such dyes from their merchandise—a transfer that, like Trump’s purported take care of Coke, makes for grabby headlines. Meals giants similar to Kraft Heinz, Normal Mills, and Nestlé have all agreed to part out synthetic dyes from their merchandise. However Fortunate Charms made with pure meals dyes and nonetheless loaded with sugar is hardly a win for American well being.
It’s a tumultuous time to be a meals firm; the MAHA military would possibly all of a sudden come after an ingredient in your product that individuals beforehand agreed was protected. (Yesterday, after Trump’s announcement, Coke defended on X the security of high-fructose corn syrup.) Agreeing to take away a controversial ingredient is a approach to get within the administration’s good graces and generally is a good enterprise transfer—even when your meals are largely nonetheless unhealthy.
In reality, meals corporations have began to seek out that they don’t truly have to promote wholesome meals with a view to be MAHA accredited; they simply have to take away the few elements Kennedy objects to. No firm fairly embodies this technique like Steak ’n Shake. The burger chain has grow to be a MAHA darling: Steak ’n Shake introduced earlier this yr that it might start frying french fries in beef tallow as a substitute of seed oils. To have fun the change, Kennedy had a meal at a Steak ’n Shake for a photograph opp with Sean Hannity that was broadcast on Fox Information. (He thanked the restaurant for “RFK-ing the french fries.”) What this second didn’t seize was that, at Steak ’n Shake, you possibly can nonetheless order a double cheeseburger with 1,120 milligrams of sodium—half the advisable every day quantity for adults. Wash it down with a vanilla milkshake, and also you’ll have simply consumed 92 grams of sugar, equal to gorging on three Snickers bars. Or how a few Coke together with your beef-tallow fries? Right now, Steak ’n Shake introduced the following step in its “MAHA journey”: In just a few weeks, it can start promoting “Coca-Cola with actual cane sugar in glass bottles.”
