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For context on the Mexican cola, US cola had sugar as well until the mid 1980s. The US sugar program restricts imports and keeps the domestic price for sugar h

For context on the Mexican cola, US cola had sugar as well until the mid 1980s. The US sugar program restricts imports and keeps the domestic price for sugar high, which created a new market for milling corn into HFCS. HFCS is uniquely an American invention that's the result of massive government subsidies for corn and price support for sugar. If the government did not intervene in American sugar markets, cola would still be made with sugar imported from outside the United States.

dghughes 5y ago
Canada has no such requirements but even so we still get stuck with pop sweetened with HFCS.
- smegger001 5y ago
  because many corps look at Canada as a just another smaller less profitable part of the US market and simply swap Spanish print for French.
throw63738 5y ago
Everyone argues about sugar, but the true original is in Peru :)
zionic 5y ago
And recent studies show HFCS alters the folds in your gut, lengthening them. This increased surface area significantly increases the amount of calories your intestines can extract from the same volume of food.
- adamiscool8 5y ago
  In case anyone else is curious about this: >The research, published August 18 in Nature, focused on the effect of a high-fructose diet on villi, the thin, hairlike structures that line the inside of the small intestine. Villi expand the surface area of the gut and help the body to absorb nutrients, including dietary fats, from food as it passes through the digestive tract. The study found that mice that were fed diets that included fructose had villi that were 25 percent to 40 percent longer than those of mice that were not fed fructose. Additionally, the increase in villus length was associated with increased nutrient absorption, weight gain and fat accumulation in the animals.[0] [0] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210818135218.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210818135218.h...
  - phonypc 5y ago
    Worth noting that the "in mice" qualifier might be particularly apropos here. >According to Taylor, the observations in mice make sense from an evolutionary perspective. "In mammals, especially hibernating mammals in temperate climates, you have fructose being very available in the fall months when the fruit is ripe," he said. "Eating a lot of fructose may help these animals to absorb and convert more nutrients to fat, which they need to get through the winter." Humans generally don't hibernate.
    - imtringued 5y ago
      That just means they get fat for no reason.
    - estaseuropano 5y ago
      Mice also don't hibernate. Our evolution had a lot of steps, so well possible that we too have this feature as in the past it might have been adaptive.
  - cma 5y ago
    > 25 percent to 40 percent longer than those of mice that were not fed fructose. Did they compare against sucrose? I see they did have it but can't see if that result was in comparison to the control or to it.
- sdfsdghk 5y ago
  Thanks for the tip. I'll be adding more Coke products to my survival shelter.
bluedino 5y ago
Unlike the USA, Mexico has warnings on their Coke and Pepsi, about excess calories and how it is not meant for children.
- short12 5y ago
  Those warnings sure worked considering childhood obesity of mexico
  - dylan604 5y ago
    How many people actually read those warnings? See logo, buy product, consume product. Much like those mandated warnings on tobacco. Guy looks at pack 1 with a warning "May cause cancer", puts it back. Guy looks at pack 2 with a warning "May cause birth defects". Guy decides that's now his brand. (appologies to Bill Hicks)
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
    - tudorw 5y ago
      In the UK we get 'candy' imports that are saturated with azo-dyes, they are not banned, they just have a warning on the packet, yup, a warning on the packet that says 'may cause hyperactivity', when I've drawn other parents attention, either they have never noticed it, or dismiss it as a sugar high, https://hacsg.org.uk/artificial-food-colourings-and-adhd-hyperactivity/ https://hacsg.org.uk/artificial-food-colourings-and-adhd-hyp...
      - Dylan16807 5y ago
        Got anything that mentions amounts? This page is failing to properly quote or link to the things it talks about.
        tudorw 5y ago
        "Azo dyes are used widely as color additives in food, drugs, and cosmetics; hence, there is an increasing concern about their safety and possible health hazards. In the present study, we chose 4 azo dyes tartrazine, Sunset Yellow, amaranth, and Allura red and evaluated their developmental toxicity on zebrafish embryos. At concentration levels of 5 to 50 mM, we found that azo dyes can induce hatching difficulty and developmental abnormalities such as cardiac edema, decreased heart rate, yolk sac edema, and spinal defects including spinal curvature and tail distortion. Exposure to 100 mM of each azo dye was completely embryolethal. The median lethal concentration (LC50), median effective concentration (EC50), and teratogenic index (TI) were calculated for each azo dye at 72 hours postfertilization. For tartrazine, the LC50 was 47.10 mM and EC50 value was at 42.66 mM with TI ratio of 1.10. For Sunset Yellow, the LC50 was 38.93 mM and EC50 value was at 29.81 mM with TI ratio of 1.31. For amaranth, the LC50 was 39.86 mM and EC50 value was at 31.94 mM with TI ratio of 1.25. For Allura red, the LC50 was 47.42 mM and EC50 value was 40.05 mM with TI ratio of 1.18. This study reports the developmental toxicity of azo dyes in zebrafish embryos at concentrations higher than the expected human exposures from consuming food and drugs containing azo dyes." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31933405/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31933405/ "Synthetic azo dyes are widely used in industries. Gerhardt Domagk discovered that the antimicrobial effect of red azo dye Prontosil was caused by the reductively cleaved (azo reduction) product sulfanilamide. The significance of azo reduction is thus revealed. Azo reduction can be accomplished by human intestinal microflora, skin microflora, environmental microorganisms, to a lesser extent by human liver azoreductase, and by nonbiological means. Some azo dyes can be carcinogenic without being cleaved into aromatic amines. However, the carcinogenicity of many azo dyes is due to their cleaved product such as benzidine. Benzidine induces various human and animal tumors. Another azo dye component, p-phenylenediamine, is a contact allergen. Many azo dyes and their reductively cleaved products as well as chemically related aromatic amines are reported to affect human health, causing allergies and other human maladies." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27635691/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27635691/ "Approximately 0.7 million tons of azo dyes are synthesized each year. Azo dyes are composed of one or more R₁-N=N-R₂ linkages. Studies have shown that both mammalian and microbial azoreductases cleave the azo bonds of the dyes to form compounds that are potentially genotoxic. The human gastrointestinal tract harbors a diverse microbiota comprised of at least several thousand species. Both water-soluble and water-insoluble azo dyes can be reduced by intestinal bacteria. Some of the metabolites produced by intestinal microbiota have been shown to be carcinogenic to humans although the parent azo dyes may not be classified as being carcinogenic. Azoreductase activity is commonly found in intestinal bacteria. Three types of azoreductases have been characterized in bacteria. They are flavin dependent NADH preferred azoreductase, flavin dependent NADPH preferred azoreductase, and flavin free NADPH preferred azoreductase. This review highlights how azo dyes are metabolized by intestinal bacteria, mechanisms of azo reduction, and the potential contribution in the carcinogenesis/mutagenesis of the reduction of the azo dyes by intestinal microbiota." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22201895/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22201895/

dghughes 5y ago

Canada has no such requirements but even so we still get stuck with pop sweetened with HFCS.

smegger001 5y ago
because many corps look at Canada as a just another smaller less profitable part of the US market and simply swap Spanish print for French.

throw63738 5y ago

Everyone argues about sugar, but the true original is in Peru :)

zionic 5y ago

And recent studies show HFCS alters the folds in your gut, lengthening them. This increased surface area significantly increases the amount of calories your intestines can extract from the same volume of food.

adamiscool8 5y ago
In case anyone else is curious about this: >The research, published August 18 in Nature, focused on the effect of a high-fructose diet on villi, the thin, hairlike structures that line the inside of the small intestine. Villi expand the surface area of the gut and help the body to absorb nutrients, including dietary fats, from food as it passes through the digestive tract. The study found that mice that were fed diets that included fructose had villi that were 25 percent to 40 percent longer than those of mice that were not fed fructose. Additionally, the increase in villus length was associated with increased nutrient absorption, weight gain and fat accumulation in the animals.[0] [0] https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210818135218.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210818135218.h...
- phonypc 5y ago
  Worth noting that the "in mice" qualifier might be particularly apropos here. >According to Taylor, the observations in mice make sense from an evolutionary perspective. "In mammals, especially hibernating mammals in temperate climates, you have fructose being very available in the fall months when the fruit is ripe," he said. "Eating a lot of fructose may help these animals to absorb and convert more nutrients to fat, which they need to get through the winter." Humans generally don't hibernate.
  - imtringued 5y ago
    That just means they get fat for no reason.
  - estaseuropano 5y ago
    Mice also don't hibernate. Our evolution had a lot of steps, so well possible that we too have this feature as in the past it might have been adaptive.
- cma 5y ago
  > 25 percent to 40 percent longer than those of mice that were not fed fructose. Did they compare against sucrose? I see they did have it but can't see if that result was in comparison to the control or to it.
sdfsdghk 5y ago
Thanks for the tip. I'll be adding more Coke products to my survival shelter.

bluedino 5y ago

Unlike the USA, Mexico has warnings on their Coke and Pepsi, about excess calories and how it is not meant for children.

short12 5y ago
Those warnings sure worked considering childhood obesity of mexico
- dylan604 5y ago
  How many people actually read those warnings? See logo, buy product, consume product. Much like those mandated warnings on tobacco. Guy looks at pack 1 with a warning "May cause cancer", puts it back. Guy looks at pack 2 with a warning "May cause birth defects". Guy decides that's now his brand. (appologies to Bill Hicks)
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - tudorw 5y ago
    In the UK we get 'candy' imports that are saturated with azo-dyes, they are not banned, they just have a warning on the packet, yup, a warning on the packet that says 'may cause hyperactivity', when I've drawn other parents attention, either they have never noticed it, or dismiss it as a sugar high, https://hacsg.org.uk/artificial-food-colourings-and-adhd-hyperactivity/ https://hacsg.org.uk/artificial-food-colourings-and-adhd-hyp...
    - Dylan16807 5y ago
      Got anything that mentions amounts? This page is failing to properly quote or link to the things it talks about.
      - tudorw 5y ago
        "Azo dyes are used widely as color additives in food, drugs, and cosmetics; hence, there is an increasing concern about their safety and possible health hazards. In the present study, we chose 4 azo dyes tartrazine, Sunset Yellow, amaranth, and Allura red and evaluated their developmental toxicity on zebrafish embryos. At concentration levels of 5 to 50 mM, we found that azo dyes can induce hatching difficulty and developmental abnormalities such as cardiac edema, decreased heart rate, yolk sac edema, and spinal defects including spinal curvature and tail distortion. Exposure to 100 mM of each azo dye was completely embryolethal. The median lethal concentration (LC50), median effective concentration (EC50), and teratogenic index (TI) were calculated for each azo dye at 72 hours postfertilization. For tartrazine, the LC50 was 47.10 mM and EC50 value was at 42.66 mM with TI ratio of 1.10. For Sunset Yellow, the LC50 was 38.93 mM and EC50 value was at 29.81 mM with TI ratio of 1.31. For amaranth, the LC50 was 39.86 mM and EC50 value was at 31.94 mM with TI ratio of 1.25. For Allura red, the LC50 was 47.42 mM and EC50 value was 40.05 mM with TI ratio of 1.18. This study reports the developmental toxicity of azo dyes in zebrafish embryos at concentrations higher than the expected human exposures from consuming food and drugs containing azo dyes." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31933405/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31933405/ "Synthetic azo dyes are widely used in industries. Gerhardt Domagk discovered that the antimicrobial effect of red azo dye Prontosil was caused by the reductively cleaved (azo reduction) product sulfanilamide. The significance of azo reduction is thus revealed. Azo reduction can be accomplished by human intestinal microflora, skin microflora, environmental microorganisms, to a lesser extent by human liver azoreductase, and by nonbiological means. Some azo dyes can be carcinogenic without being cleaved into aromatic amines. However, the carcinogenicity of many azo dyes is due to their cleaved product such as benzidine. Benzidine induces various human and animal tumors. Another azo dye component, p-phenylenediamine, is a contact allergen. Many azo dyes and their reductively cleaved products as well as chemically related aromatic amines are reported to affect human health, causing allergies and other human maladies." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27635691/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27635691/ "Approximately 0.7 million tons of azo dyes are synthesized each year. Azo dyes are composed of one or more R₁-N=N-R₂ linkages. Studies have shown that both mammalian and microbial azoreductases cleave the azo bonds of the dyes to form compounds that are potentially genotoxic. The human gastrointestinal tract harbors a diverse microbiota comprised of at least several thousand species. Both water-soluble and water-insoluble azo dyes can be reduced by intestinal bacteria. Some of the metabolites produced by intestinal microbiota have been shown to be carcinogenic to humans although the parent azo dyes may not be classified as being carcinogenic. Azoreductase activity is commonly found in intestinal bacteria. Three types of azoreductases have been characterized in bacteria. They are flavin dependent NADH preferred azoreductase, flavin dependent NADPH preferred azoreductase, and flavin free NADPH preferred azoreductase. This review highlights how azo dyes are metabolized by intestinal bacteria, mechanisms of azo reduction, and the potential contribution in the carcinogenesis/mutagenesis of the reduction of the azo dyes by intestinal microbiota." https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22201895/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22201895/