Sewers of Babel : roboshobo

It's true, Coke from Mexico is about a billion times better than the crap from your local grocery store. I first discovered this in North Hollywood at a delicious taco stand last year. I picked it up just for the sheer novelty of it coming in a glass bottle that is a design more or less unchanged since the 70s. But there's more to it than that: It tastes different. Better.

And there's a reason for this; Mexican Coke is still made with cane sugar, not corn syrup.
So why does Coke rule in Mexico and now suck in the very country that birthed it? All part of a conspiracy to make America less great I suppose.

Let's step back to 1985:

Coke is pulled from the shelves and replaced with an over-sweetened and totally bizarro product called New Coke, which is pushed by a frenetically stuttering Max Headroom. America hates the crap and just 3 months later, "old" Coke returns as Coca-Cola Classic. But something's changed... this isn't our beloved old cola, this is some sort of pod people bait-and-switch.

The old coke was made with cane sugar, but this new 'old' Coke is made with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). But with it out of the hands of the American public for several months, the old supply is exhausted and the new replacement is without a comparision. The public has forgotten what real coke tasted like now accepts Coca Cola Classic as 'the real thing.'

But why does any of this matter? Lets turn to wikipedia for some facts about HFCS:

"Fructose produces lower levels of the hormones leptin and insulin than glucose. Raising leptin and insulin levels trigger the feeling of "fullness" while eating. The level of the hormone ghrelin remains higher with consumption of fructose than it does with glucose. Ghrelin appears to control the feeling of "hunger". This double change in normal production of these hormones results in a slower decrease in appetite and a tendency to consume more than if glucose were to be used. Thus more is consumed to get the same "full" and "satiated" feeling and the total caloric intake is greater. Additionally, the level of blood triglycerides shows a rapid and prolonged elevation after consuming fructose as opposed to glucose. JCEM 2/24/2004

The delayed decrease of the hormone ghrelin has been shown in obese subjects but not in normal weight subjects. This means that chronic consuption of fructose may actually be preconditioning the metabolism of a normal weight individual to behave like an obese individual's metabolism. JCEM 11/2/2004

High triglyceride levels are believed to be linked to clogging of the arteries and may increase the risk of heart attack or stroke. They may even be more important for determining the risk of heart disease than cholesterol."

Perhaps this crap is a weapon being fine-tuned for mass consumption.