In the fight against obesity, the beverage giant Coca-Cola is now giving in: The company wants to significantly reduce the sugar content of its famous drink.
Less sugar in Coca-Cola
The sugar content in Coca-Cola is to be significantly reduced in the future: by 2020, around ten percent less sugar is to be used in the preparation of the popular soft drinks. “That requires a lot of effort. We’re changing recipes, increasingly relying on smaller packages, and, last but not least, clear product information for consumers,” explains CEO James Quincey to “Welt am Sonntag”.
Due to the changed consumption behavior of consumers, sugar has become a new challenge for many societies around the world. The white sweetener is often consumed in excess – in beverages and other foods – which increases the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes, says Quincey.
Soft drinks promote obesity
There are almost eleven grams of sugar in 100 milliliters of Coca-Cola. Converted to one liter, this would be a total of about 35 sugar cubes – a considerable amount. Especially when you consider that Coca-Cola is drunk in large quantities every day as a thirst quencher for many.
A nasty sugar trap if you look at the recommendation of the World Health Organization (WHO): It recommends no more than 25 grams of sugar per day – that’s about ten sugar cubes.
Now the sugar content in one liter of cola is to be reduced to 31 sugar cubes. The beverage giant wants to support the WHO in its goal that people consume no more than ten percent of their calories from added sugar. Currently, this would correspond to 250 milliliters of cola.
