3 ms·

Who are the players in Big Sugar who would exploit this? Can’t be the likes of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, because they’d also be part of Big Aspartame.

by vosper 3y ago

samtho 3y ago
You’re correct that soft drink providers have no horse in this race as they are mere consumers of sweetening agents, and the their product output depends on customer demand. It would hardly make much difference to them if 90% of consumers started to prefer Diet Coke over Coca-Cola, they would just make more Diet Coke. The sugar industry’s escapades are well known. Most notably, the SRF’s (Sugar Research Foundation) war on dietary fats[0][1]. [0]: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074... [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099084/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099084/
- throwaway38249 3y ago
  They need to sell something, if people believe sugar is bad, sweeteners are bad, even disposable plastic bottles are bad, what's left? Edit to add something more concrete, we already have the "sugar tax" in the UK, to avoid it soft drinks went mostly sugar free or reduced sugar substantially, and replaced it with sweeteners. And now: https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/artificial-sweeteners-to-face-government-scrutiny-after-who-report-raises-health-fears/680641.article https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/artificial-sweeteners-to-face-go... Simultaneously: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deposit-return-scheme-for-drinks-containers-moves-a-step-closer https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deposit-return-scheme-for...
freedomben 3y ago
Corn farmers are a huge part (because their product makes high fructose corn syrup) and they are highly effective lobbyists. They are also the ones that pushed ethanol on us and told us it wouldn't hurt our engines (even though it absolutely did. Most engines now are designed with ethanol in mind, but ethanol gas destroyed a lot of otherwise perfectly fine engines before people realized it was a huge lie. By then it was too late anyway) With the presidential primaries coming up we'll get another big reminder about how disproportionately influential the Iowa corn farmers are.
maxk42 3y ago
US Sugar and Domino, if memory serves.

Who are the players in Big Sugar who would exploit this? Can’t be the likes of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, because they’d also be part of Big Aspartame.

by vosper 3y ago

Who are the players in Big Sugar who would exploit this? Can’t be the likes of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, because they’d also be part of Big Aspartame.

samtho 3y ago

You’re correct that soft drink providers have no horse in this race as they are mere consumers of sweetening agents, and the their product output depends on customer demand. It would hardly make much difference to them if 90% of consumers started to prefer Diet Coke over Coca-Cola, they would just make more Diet Coke. The sugar industry’s escapades are well known. Most notably, the SRF’s (Sugar Research Foundation) war on dietary fats[0][1]. [0]: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074/50-years-ago-sugar-industry-quietly-paid-scientists-to-point-blame-at-fat https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/09/13/493739074... [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099084/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5099084/

throwaway38249 3y ago
They need to sell something, if people believe sugar is bad, sweeteners are bad, even disposable plastic bottles are bad, what's left? Edit to add something more concrete, we already have the "sugar tax" in the UK, to avoid it soft drinks went mostly sugar free or reduced sugar substantially, and replaced it with sweeteners. And now: https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/artificial-sweeteners-to-face-government-scrutiny-after-who-report-raises-health-fears/680641.article https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/artificial-sweeteners-to-face-go... Simultaneously: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deposit-return-scheme-for-drinks-containers-moves-a-step-closer https://www.gov.uk/government/news/deposit-return-scheme-for...

freedomben 3y ago

Corn farmers are a huge part (because their product makes high fructose corn syrup) and they are highly effective lobbyists. They are also the ones that pushed ethanol on us and told us it wouldn't hurt our engines (even though it absolutely did. Most engines now are designed with ethanol in mind, but ethanol gas destroyed a lot of otherwise perfectly fine engines before people realized it was a huge lie. By then it was too late anyway) With the presidential primaries coming up we'll get another big reminder about how disproportionately influential the Iowa corn farmers are.

maxk42 3y ago

US Sugar and Domino, if memory serves.