Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
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
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)
shimadzu.com/an/service-support/technical-support/analysis-basics/basic/refractive_index_detection.html
Is Mexican Coke Better? | The Food Lab, Drinks Edition
seriouseats.com/coke-vs-mexican-coke
Fructose content in popular beverages made with and without high-fructose corn syrup - ScienceDirect
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900714001920
Re. “Fructose content in popular beverages made with and without high fructose corn syrup” - ScienceDirect
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
mdpi.com/2072-6643/7/7/5254
The Story of Mexican Coke Is a Lot More Complex Than Hipsters Would Like to Admit | Smithsonian
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
nature.com/articles/ijo201473
The Soft Drinks Companion | A Technical Handbook for the Beverage Indu
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
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
tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07328300008544153
Sucrose Loss and Color Formation in Sugar Manufacture | SpringerLink
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-1925-0_12
CMB 206 Measuring and Adjusting Invert Sugar in Maple Sugar.pdf
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
wiki.anton-paar.com/us-en/sugar-inversion
The Impact of Sugar Inversion on Soft Drinks with Sugar | ISBT
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
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7758970
What Are Reducing Sugars? – Master Organic Chemistry
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
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0950329393901594
Rapid analysis of glucose, fructose and sucrose contents of commercial soft drinks using Raman spectroscopy - ScienceDirect
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095671351400005X?via%3Dihub
High Fructose Corn Syrup Questions and Answers | FDA
fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/high-fructose-corn-syrup-questions-and-answers
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
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)
shimadzu.com/an/service-support/technical-support/analysis-basics/basic/refractive_index_detection.html
Is Mexican Coke Better? | The Food Lab, Drinks Edition
seriouseats.com/coke-vs-mexican-coke
Fructose content in popular beverages made with and without high-fructose corn syrup - ScienceDirect
sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900714001920
Re. “Fructose content in popular beverages made with and without high fructose corn syrup” - ScienceDirect
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
mdpi.com/2072-6643/7/7/5254
The Story of Mexican Coke Is a Lot More Complex Than Hipsters Would Like to Admit | Smithsonian
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
nature.com/articles/ijo201473
The Soft Drinks Companion | A Technical Handbook for the Beverage Indu
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
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
tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07328300008544153
Sucrose Loss and Color Formation in Sugar Manufacture | SpringerLink
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4899-1925-0_12
CMB 206 Measuring and Adjusting Invert Sugar in Maple Sugar.pdf
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
wiki.anton-paar.com/us-en/sugar-inversion
The Impact of Sugar Inversion on Soft Drinks with Sugar | ISBT
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
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7758970
What Are Reducing Sugars? – Master Organic Chemistry
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
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0950329393901594
Rapid analysis of glucose, fructose and sucrose contents of commercial soft drinks using Raman spectroscopy - ScienceDirect
sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095671351400005X?via%3Dihub
High Fructose Corn Syrup Questions and Answers | FDA
fda.gov/food/food-additives-petitions/high-fructose-corn-syrup-questions-and-answers
