Pepsi has taken advantage of the growing trend against high-fructose corn syrup and introduced sugar sweetened alternatives under the “Throwback” label for two of their HFCS laden flagship beverages. Yes, in certain areas, there have been Kosher versions of both Coke and Pepsi available for some time – and Coke and Pepsi imported from Mexico (that not only use sugar, but come in glass bottles) remains a popular alternative (if you can find it – and it sells for $1.29 – $1.99 per 12 ounce bottle). There are regional brands that still use sugar to sweeten their drinks, but those also sell at a premium. Hopefully, the nationwide exposure causes this to do so well in the next 6-8 weeks that Pepsi sees the light and keeps this as a permanent option.
I have tried the Pepsi Throwback and the taste is definitely superior to HFCS Pepsi.
Review of Pepsi Throwback (notice the difference in the carbonation)
Review of Mountain Dew Throwback
Review of Mexican Coke (quotes a 3 year old article where Coca-Cola insists that sugar and HFCS taste exactly the same)
From last time this was posted, I googled and came away with the notion that HFCS is slightly different than other sweetners in that the body does handle it a little bit differently that other sugars to the point that the “I’m Full” signal is muted so people eat more when food is sweetened with HFCS rather than other sweetners.
I read that 2-3 times but they were bald statements without footnotes to studies.
Pedro stated emphatically that HFCS was no different than any other sugar.
Anybody with conclusive scientific link on what the difference is if any?
When Coke follows, I’m there.
So…Pepsi with HFCS is gooey and flat and bland, and Pepsi with cane sugar will remedy this somehow? I get the feeling that Pepsi with cane sugar will continue to launch my blood sugar through the roof, which is why I drink Diet Coke.
Bring back a product that should have never gone away.
Create a buzz for it.
Remove product from shelves, creating a bigger buzz.
Bring back at a huge premium.
Seems pretty simple to me.
One interesting factoid–Mexico uses cane sugar because that is cheaper for them than using HFCS which is cheaper for USA mfg’ors to use.
Both countries approaching this “food” issue from an economic model and not a health/food model.
Ain’t consumer protection “great?”
Water is nice. And cheap if you aren’t a pinhead who has to have it bottled by Nestle.
I get the Mexican Cokes here in Colorado, they taste just like the 6oz Cokes in the greenish bottles we used to get in the old days. definitely a better taste.
BTW, Diet Coke tastes like ass.
I don’t drink much soda. But what I do drink I’d like to be sucrose rather than HFCS. So I’d pay more for it.
#9–Pedro==interesting, but I didn’t see any “evidence.”
Every asshole has an opinion and thats all I have found via google. Maybe I should restrict myself to some kind of scientific studies search engine.
I don’t doubt that different things are different than other things AS WELL AS that things within a general category are all the same on that categorical characteristic.
So, the question is, is HFCS a sugar like all other sugars, or does it fall in another category. Fat Mexican Kiddies saying “they like flavor” doesn’t tell me much.
This is a good sign. I want Mt Dew throwback. I am afraid the HFCS is slowly killing me. We have Mexican Coke at the gas station, but I don’t know how to dispose of the glass bottles. If I remember, we used to get a dime back for glass. I don’t like Coke as much, but I prefer it to Pepsi.
I welcome this Mt Dew throwback and will buy it when ever I can find it.
Bobbo, is the price difference because of subsidies in the US for ethanol and tariffs on sugar?
I was under the impression that the reason HFCS is a “worse” sweetener than sucrose is that the absorption rate cannot be as easily regulated by the body because it is not dependent on an enzyme, sucrase in the latter case, to be broken down.
Jones cola has a cane based soda called blue berry limeade. The drink is like drinking a pixy stick. It is not refreshing but is very tasty. Reminds one that soda is really candy water and not a worthy meal.
#13–Mike==from memory, again, statements are made from sources of unknown expertise, but YES. Corn is GREATLY SUBSIDIZED in the US economy. The great percentage of it is not even consumable by humans but rather is animal feed stock and now bio-fuel but has always been as THE source for HFCS.
The whole aspect of “comparitive advantage” was discussed on Book TV by Alan Beattie. The critical input for cotton or rice production is WATER. Egypt is actually hurting itself by using its water to grow food when the water should be used for other infrastructure needs and they should import food. Its what the interconnected global economy is all about.
The same thing was said of Mexico and the USA–that somehow the resource utilizations made cane sugar cheaper for Mexico–ok, I remember, the Mexicans can’t afford or do the manufacturing plants that convert non human consumable corn to HFCS. I assume that means with the main market in the USA, its is marginally cheaper for transportation etc to make HFCS in USA than ship things back and forth to Mexico.
Its all economics and nothing to do with health or nutrition. BTW, Pedro’s cite was interesting in claiming that soft drinks were one of the limited sources of clean water in Mexico which is why soft drinks sell well there. That was my excuse for drinking Beer everywhere I went.
I just tried Mountain Dew Throwback yesterday. It tastes awesome Coincidentally, I did notice a LOT more Passover Pepsi this year (so maybe they were gearing up), but much less Passover Coke (and the locations that did have it, it disappeared the same day–people bought like ten at once.) If people want their sugar, give it to them! Go ahead and charge a premium–why doesn’t each Coke bottler make their 8 oz. glass bottle version have sugar? Those 8 oz. four packs already cost nearly 5 dollars, compared to 2.50 for a 6 pack of 20 oz. plastic bottles.
5, The food industry started going towards HFCS when the U.S. started boycotting international sugars. The boycott was done in order to protect American sugar farmers because international sugars were about half as cheap as domestic sugars. The government with good intentions caused many in the food industry to switch to a cheaper alternative when many saw one of their main ingredients double in price.
11, From Mercola’s website (requires free subscription): http://tinyurl.com/dahvdj
It’s my understanding that HFCS (along with regular fructose) isn’t absorbed in the same way as other sugars. Other sugars make it to your blood fairly quickly. Fructose and HFCS apparently accumulate in or around the liver as fatty deposits.
A woman in the St. Louis area had to have a liver transplant due to cirrhosis of the liver apparently caused by a diet rich in HFCS. The jury is still out on that, but Washington University’s medical school is researching “fatty liver” caused by HFCS.
Aside from that, I think the food industry likes HFCS for two other reasons. It’s a lot sweeter than regular sugar, and it helps produce a more desired texture in some foods.
Why can’t we go back to the good old days, and make Coca-cola with cocaine. And Pepsi with heroin?
(You gotta get up to get down…)
#16, bobbo, very good point you bring up, but unfortunately, even well understood economic theories don’t always win out over on-the-ground interests. It’s not popular to tell an American farmer that we would be better off importing the crop he makes a living from, and so should put his land to different, more productive use.
The United States has many different climate zones within it, so that kinda complicates the discussion, when dealing with what is best to trade and with whom.
gee i wonder if someone make a less sugared soda pop..??? hhmm i’d buy that..
at least i’d buy more then once in a blue moon, as i drink lightly (very lightly) sweetened tea.. not that diabetic coma inducing stuff from the south.. (usa)
The use of HFCS is mostly due to the high tariff on sugar. Note that one of the largest sugar growers is Cuba.
But as far as it goes, the term “cane sugar” is somewhat misleading. Regular white sugar (sucrose) can also and is also made from sugar beets, which can be grown in moderate climates…even in places like Minnesota.
Oh, and for the record, you find more Kosher Pepsi than Kosher Coke because Jewish people have a preference for Pepsi. I think it has to do with the Atlanta vs. Purchase, New York company base thing.
I more or less gave up sugared soda about 12 years ago when they finally started to get some of the diet drinks to be palatable again. Back when cyclamate was still legal in the USA, they tasted okay. Once they got rid of the saccharin, things began to improve. The benefits are, of course mega fewer calories, and the added advantage that spills aren’t sticky.
My favorite for more than 10 years has been diet Mt. Dew. I’ll try some of the throwback, if I can find it, but once you wean yourself off the sugar, it always tastes absurdly sweet when you go back.
I’ve tried both Pepsi Throwback and Mt. Dew. Throwback and I don’t care what Coke or Pepsi try to claim, there is definitely a difference in taste. The biggest difference I found isn’t in flavor (thought that is better too), but rather in the lack of chemical aftertaste and that “gritty” feeling that Pepsi usually leaves on your teeth. It’s just pure good flavor from first sip all the way down. Enjoy it while it is here.
#24, Pepsi-cola originates from North Carolina.
@Pedro:
Let me all know when you catch the difference between pepsi & coke too.
Pepsi has a higher level of caramel in the soda. I know this because my metabolism does not like caramel, so I can ‘taste’ the slight acidic difference, and cannot consume as many Pepsis as Cokes, because it will upset my stomach.
J/P=?
20, I never meant to imply you can’t get fructose elsewhere. The point being is you’re ingesting small doses of fructose when eating fruit.
HFCS is highly concentrated. And it is in damn near everything you eat nowadays from breads, crackers, dips, etc. It is really hard to eat a diet absent of HFCS unless you make your own meals. It would be interesting to see if a person could eat enough fructose naturally to be equivalent to what a person can ingest through foods containing HFCS.
The woman who had her liver transplant did not drink alcohol. What they found was her diet was rich in HFCS and they believe that’s what caused her affliction…. it’s still being looked into.
The CDC used to have a graph on their website which showed the obesity rate mirroring the food industry’s use of HFCS. That graph mysteriously disappeared and can no longer be found. The CDC did put a disclaimer out at the time saying the graph was not trying to imply any sort of causal relationship and that further research was needed.
I guess I won’t be drinking any more Glaceau Vitamin Water: http://tinyurl.com/cubc6w
I will switch. I tried the Mountain Dew. I will try letting it start to get warm and see if I get the same awful warm Dew taste.
30, I think there is a misunderstanding. I’m not saying if you eat foods containing regular sugar that you won’t get fat. Fructose seems to help you accumulate body fat more easily than other sugars according to these two links below:
http://tinyurl.com/cgvp8b
http://tinyurl.com/cpa4e6
In general, too much sugar (of any kind) is going to cause problems. Drinking sodas used to be reserved for holidays and special occasions. Nowadays people drink it everyday.
On the matter of HFCS since it’s sweeter, the food companies get more bang for their buck. But our bodies more readily turn it into body fat than other sugars.
It’s my understanding that other sugars quickl become available in our bloodstream waiting to be used by our muscles. The more fit we are, the more our muscles use up this blood sugar. At the end of the day when we all fall asleep, any leftover blood sugar gets converted over to body fat… at the end of the day when you are sleeping. This is a stark contrast to how fructose is handled. Fructose goes to our livers and starts turning to fatty deposits.
I’m not a doctor, so this is my general understanding of it.
Bobbo – Try Googling cane suger vs hfcs.
36, Not in every Costco. Maybe the ones in California and Texas.
Thanks Hop.
After correcting for your speeeling error, google turned up the always reliable wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup
Which confirms the information in this excellent thread, except for Pedro’s insistance that HFCS and sugar are the same. Evidently they are the same only in that they should both be avoided whenever possible.
Until the next marketing campaign, I’m sticking with this:
Avoid HFCS–makes you eat more and gives you diabetes and cirrhosis of the liver, AND
Avoid Sugar–makes you fat and rots your teeth.
I don’t care what the truth is, my mind is made up.