Recipe change in the US? How corn syrup got into cola

When Donald Trump makes particularly big announcements, they should generally be treated with caution. The US president repeatedly throws smokescreens when he or his policies are criticized. Trump is currently fighting to quell the controversy surrounding the Epstein files , which has even his own camp up in arms. Trump's latest idea could therefore be aimed at appeasing his own supporters.

His latest initiative is nevertheless interesting. It concerns one of the most popular beverages in the United States, perhaps even the world. Specifically: Coca-Cola. If Trump has his way, the recipe for the traditional soft drink will soon be improved in the United States.

The crux of the matter is the so-called high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), also known here as isoglucose (or colloquially: corn syrup). This has been found in almost all soft drinks sold in the USA for many decades – while in Europe, sugar obtained from sugar beet Now the recipe could be changed, at least for Coca-Cola – for the first time since the 1980s.

Trump stated on his short message service Truth Social that he had spoken with the Coca-Cola Corporation about the change – "and they agreed." He continued: "This will be a very good move on their part – you'll see. It's just better!"

Previously, Trump's Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had expressed concerns about the health effects of the ingredient. Health experts also repeatedly blame the corn syrup contained in soft drinks for the high obesity rate in the United States.

Coca-Cola itself initially responded cautiously, then stepped up its game. In a statement, the company defended the use of the syrup in its beverages. "It is safe; it has approximately the same number of calories per serving as table sugar and is metabolized similarly by the body," the letter states.

The debate surrounding so-called high-fructose corn syrup has been raging fiercely in the United States for years. This sweetener is a mixture of water, glucose, and fructose, produced from cornstarch. Its composition differs from conventional table sugar, which is derived from sugar cane or sugar beet.

Like table sugar, isoglucose consists of fructose and glucose – however, not in a fixed 1:1 ratio, but rather in a variable ratio. The fructose content in corn syrup can theoretically reach 90 percent – and fructose in particular is suspected of promoting obesity, fatty liver disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and gout.

Aside from health concerns, there is also ongoing debate about whether the modified recipe affects the taste. Hundreds of videos on social media show Americans crossing the border into Mexico to drink the supposedly "real" Coke – in the neighboring country, according to the manufacturer, it is made with standard sugar. In some cases, "Mexican Coke" is even listed on restaurant menus as a special quality feature.

But why does the US use the substance in its soft drinks in the first place? In fact, the recipe change dates back to the 1970s—and it can be traced back in no small part to an entrepreneur.

In 1971, a surprise sale of US grain to the Soviet Union occurred. US President Richard Nixon spoke at the time of "the largest grain trade in the history of nations." Even this deal evidently contained a certain degree of nepotism, as "Der Spiegel" reported in a 1972 article : Contrary to promises, it was not the broad masses of American farmers who profited from the trade, but rather a handful of large corporations.

However, the deal triggered a boom in corn prices – and a massive increase in corn acreage. Although prices fell again in the 1970s, farmers, supported by subsidies, continued to plant massive amounts of corn. The result: massive corn overproduction, which also impacted the economy.

The US magazine "Mother Jones" chronicled the following events in an article: Corn processing giants like Archer Daniels Midland suddenly found themselves forced to enter new business areas. While they had plenty of cheap corn at their disposal, they needed new ideas and markets to generate profits. And the company found these in two business areas.

One idea was to use corn for ethanol production in the future, thereby disrupting the gasoline market. The other idea was to introduce high-fructose corn syrup into the soft drink industry to challenge the dominance of the sugar industry.

While the hoped-for ethanol boom didn't materialize initially, the company's corn syrup concept made it all the more successful. This, too, apparently had something to do with the company's particularly fortunate relationship with US politics.

At the time, Archer Daniels Midland was headed by a man named Dwayne Andreas. He was described by US media as "perhaps America's largest campaign donor of all time." Andreas was involved in, among other things, the Watergate controversy. During the investigation into illegal campaign donations, Andreas was charged with having unlawfully donated $100,000 to Hubert Humphreys' 1968 presidential campaign. However, he was ultimately acquitted. Andreas died in November 2016.

Andreas was also apparently largely responsible for the hype surrounding corn syrup: To boost its production, he lobbied for the introduction of a quota for sugar produced abroad starting in the 1970s. And his plan finally got a hearing.

In 1981, Ronald Reagan became US President – he is considered a close confidant of Andreas. Andreas eventually signed a law that stipulated high quotas for sugar imports. As a result, sugar prices immediately rose to double the world market price, writes "Mother Jones" – and corn syrup became a far cheaper sweetener. A development to which soft drink manufacturers eventually responded. Starting in 1984, both Pepsi and Coca-Cola in the US switched to corn syrup instead of sugar – and they have remained so ever since.

But it didn't stop there: With the increasing use of corn syrup, obesity rates also rose in the US. While a direct connection to the sweetener has not yet been conclusively proven, studies suggest that the increased consumption is at least "chronologically related to the obesity epidemic" and that "excessive consumption of HFCS in high-calorie beverages" may play a role.

A study from the University of Utah also attracted attention in 2015: In an experiment with female mice, researchers found that the mortality rate was twice as high when they were fed a mix of fructose and glucose instead of sucrose. Fertility also decreased by a quarter in the mice.

Researchers at the Yale School of Medicine also found that isoglucose acts differently on the brain, preventing a feeling of fullness. This also strengthens the link to obesity.

In the EU, isoglucose has been free of trade restrictions since 2017 due to the end of the sugar quota system, which is why critics feared a flood of the sweetener into German food products. However, this did not happen.

In a 2021 study conducted jointly with the Max Rubner Institute (MRI), the Institute for Risk Assessment (IRIS) wrote that corn syrup is "rarely used" on the German market. Less than one percent of all foods recorded in the databases listed it as an ingredient. If the sweetener does occur, it is primarily found in baked goods (such as bread and bread products, cakes, pastries), confectionery (such as chocolate, chocolate bars, fruit gums), and ready meals (such as instant noodles, instant rice, and ready-made pizzas). Isoglucose is also added to snacks and sports nutrition.

If you want to check whether a product contains this sweetener, you can find it in the list of ingredients on the label. This will either be "glucose-fructose syrup" or "fructose-glucose syrup." The word "sugar," however, may only be used for sucrose, i.e., conventional table sugar.