They Changed Coke and Didn't Tell Anyone

Video Description

Our last video about Mexican Coke made a bold claim: that Mexican Coke has no (unhydrolyzed) sugar in it. Two chemistry professors called us on that claim, so George visited them to run definitive tests on their expensive instruments… and he accidentally discovered that Coke is doing something they haven’t told ANYONE about. And that raised some questions that only @planetmoney could answer. #cocacola #sugar #chemistry CLARIFICATION: In the video I said that Coke hasn’t done this before, but they have, of course, put cane sugar in sodas before. What they haven’t done – at least to my knowledge – is deliver a soda to our hands that has an appreciable amount of unhydrolyzed cane sugar in it. Producers: Andrew Sobey Elaine Seward Writer: George Zaidan Hosts: George Zaidan Executive Producer: Matthew Radcliff Scientific Consultants: Michelle Boucher, PhD Rebekah Feight Jeb Kegerreis, PhD Brianne Raccor, PhD John Richardson, PhD Natalie Spicka Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell Reactions is a production of the American Chemical Society. © 2026 American Chemical Society. All rights reserved. Sources: Coca-Cola introduces their cane sugar soda in the USA https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/coca-cola-introduces-cane-suger-170931513.html?guccounter=1 The White House on X https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1945588887847375341?lang=en Refractive Index Detection (RID) : SHIMADZU (Shimadzu Corporation) https://www.shimadzu.com/an/service-support/technical-support/analysis-basics/basic/refractive_index_detection.html Is Mexican Coke Better? | The Food Lab, Drinks Edition https://www.seriouseats.com/coke-vs-mexican-coke Fructose content in popular beverages made with and without high-fructose corn syrup - ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900714001920 Re. “Fructose content in popular beverages made with and without high fructose corn syrup” - ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900714003293 Laboratory Determined Sugar Content and Composition of Commercial Infant Formulas, Baby Foods and Common Grocery Items Targeted to Children https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/7/7/5254 The Story of Mexican Coke Is a Lot More Complex Than Hipsters Would Like to Admit | Smithsonian https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/story-mexican-coke-more-complex-than-hipsters-would-admit-180956032/ Fructose content and composition of commercial HFCS-sweetened carbonated beverages | International Journal of Obesity https://www.nature.com/articles/ijo201473 The Soft Drinks Companion | A Technical Handbook for the Beverage Indu https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.1201/9780203492123/soft-drinks-companion-maurice-shachman Sugar, a user's guide to sucrose : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/sugarusersguidet0000unse/page/n5/mode/2up?view=theater Degradation of Sucrose, Glucose and Fructose in Concentrated Aqueous Solutions Under Constant pH Conditions at Elevated Temperature: Journal of Carbohydrate Chemistry: Vol 19, No 9 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07328300008544153 Sucrose Loss and Color Formation in Sugar Manufacture | SpringerLink https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-1925-0_12 CMB 206 Measuring and Adjusting Invert Sugar in Maple Sugar.pdf https://www.nnyagdev.org/maplefactsheets/CMB%20206%20Measuring%20and%20Adjusting%20Invert%20Sugar%20in%20Maple%20Sugar.pdf Svante Arrhenius https://web.lemoyne.edu/~giunta/arrlaw.html Sugar inversion | Anton Paar Wiki https://wiki.anton-paar.com/us-en/sugar-inversion/ The Impact of Sugar Inversion on Soft Drinks with Sugar | ISBT https://guide.isbt.com/article/the-impact-of-sugar-inversion-on-soft-drinks-with-sugar.html Quantification of Reducing Sugars Based on the Qualitative Technique of Benedict - PMC https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7758970/ What Are Reducing Sugars? – Master Organic Chemistry https://www.masterorganicchemistry.com/2017/09/12/reducing-sugars/ Influence of acid and sugar content on sweetness, sourness and the flavour profile of beverages and sherbets - ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0950329393901594 Rapid analysis of glucose, fructose and sucrose contents of commercial soft drinks using Raman spectroscopy - ScienceDirect https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095671351400005X?via%3Dihub High Fructose Corn Syrup Questions and Answers | FDA https://www.fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/high-fructose-corn-syrup-questions-and-answers