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There are 40.5 grams of sugar in a 12 oz can of Coke.
- Forty grams of sugar is the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar.
- 10 teaspoons of sugar is the equivalent of 20 sugar cubes.
- Drinking one Coke a day for a year results in the consumption of 32 pounds of sugar.
- Drinking one Coke a day, instead of an equivalent amount of tap water, for a full year would cause you to gain 18 pounds.
Side note:
This is Coke’s official nutritional page for soft drinks. It contains no information on sugar. In contrast, here is their nutrition page for Dasani water. Since it doesn’t contain any sugar, they’ve obviously decided to include a column telling you that.
Put another way, the Coca-cola Company knows what they are doing to your health. They just don’t want you to find out….
Tips on Reducing Your Soda Intake
The above information kinda boggles the mind. 20 sugar cubes. 10 teaspoons. Soda is loaded with more calories and sugar than you realized and it simply can’t be good for you. But how do you quit? Or at least reduce your intake.
- Understand the problem: I’ve always found that the most important step in changing a behavior is to first indentify the key characteristics of that behavior. In this case, we need to understand how often and where we drink soda. Ask yourself:
How much soda am I drinking on a daily basis? One can? Two?
When do I drink it? During the day while at work? At night after dinner?
- Find something else to drink: Go cold turkey if you can, but make sure that you replace the soda that you’ve been drinking with something (mostly) sugarless that you enjoy drinking. My solution? Add a small amount of fruit juice to water. My favorite is pomegranate. Drink lots of water.
Some 100 percent fruit juice also is good, but be aware that juices have calories and sugar too.
- Switch to diet: I have mixed views on diet soda. It doesn’t have calories. But there is some evidence that artificial sweeteners confuse your body.
How? You’re body associates the taste of sugar with “that sugar rush.” It gets an idea of how many calories it can expect based upon what its eating. Mixing real sugar and artificial sweeteners may cause your body to be confused as to whether you’re getting any calories or not. This may cause you to eat excess sugary foods.
Or not.
Ultimately, some soda isn’t going to kill you. The most important thing is to exercise, eat a balanced diet, don’t be fat, drink only in moderation and don’t smoke. The main thing that soda contributes to is the “don’t be fat.” If you can drink some and still keep the weight off, you’re might be okay.
“There are some risk factors that have a major impact. Like, there is no doubt smoking kills millions of people,” said epidemiologist John Ioannidis of Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. “But for most lifestyle and diet choices – I’m not claiming none have an impact, but their impact is likely to be very small, if anything.”
Coke’s New Sugar Substitute
The Coca-cola company has recently announced that it plans on using Stevia, a natural zero calorie sweetener in some of its products.
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how do you arrive at the 40.5 grams ….the can says 28 g…thanks
Arturo,
That is, in my opinion, another case of deceptive marketing by the Coca-cola company. The can says 28g per “8 oz” serving. A can is 12 oz. Thus, there are 40.5 grams of sugar in a can but only 28 grams in a “serving” of Coke.
Yes, 8 oz is a cup. Yes, 8 oz is a fairly universal measurement that can be compared from one drink to another. But the reality is, it is just plain deceptive marketing by Coke to state that there are “28 grams of carbohydrates in a serving” of Coke when what we all want to know is “how much sugar is in this can?”
Actually, they do list the sugar…however it’s ‘hidden’ by being labeled “Carbohydrates (grams)”. I suspect you arrived at your total amount the same as this: Sugar has approx 4.2 grams of carbs per teaspoon. So, 28 grams of carbs equals about 7 teaspoons of sugar in 8oz, or about 10 to 10.5 teaspoons in 12oz. Note that drinks with no artificial sweetners have low carbs and non-diet drinks have high carbs.
As to the serving size – I believe that part of the labeling is dictated by the FDA, not the manufacturers.
I am currently experimenting in my lab to measure the exact amount of sugar in a can of coca cola brand soda. I will return in 2 days or so and post my findings.
METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS: Placed two 500ml glass beakers in drying oven for 4 hours at 105 degrees Celsius. Placed beakers in dessicator to cool to room temperature. Weighed both beakers on calibrated balance and recorded weight. Using graduated cylinder, poured 250ml of deionized water into one beaker (lab blank). Emptied contents of one can of coca cola into the second 500ml glass beaker. Rinsed can 5 times using deionized water, and added rinsings to beaker. Placed both beakers in drying oven at 105 degrees Celsius on February 18 at 15:00hrs. Removed beakers from drying oven on February 23 at 15:00hrs, and placed into dessicator for 5 hours until room temperature. Weighed both beakers on balance. FINDINGS: Sample had evaporated down to a very viscous, dark syrup with a thin dried film on top. The beaker weighed 134.6870g prior to adding the sample. The weight of the beaker after drying the sample was 176.5457g. In conclusion, the total weight of sugar was 41.8587g, which slightly exceeds the amount printed on the can (39.0g). I plan to experiment with a coke from a fountain machine to compare the two, as well as other soft drinks. I’ll try to post my findings if I can remember this web site. -Jeff
39G is for 8 oz.
That reads as if you dumped a whole can(~360ml). Is that correct, or did you put 250ml?
Did you account for other things beside sugar? preservative, flavoring, etc? I wish you had a picture of the results.
wow, I knew there was a lot of sugar in soda but not that much, the picture really clarifies it. I am so glad I stopped drinking soda a couple of years ago-it helped me lose over 35lbs and I will spread the word.