A small but important part of American agriculture got a big boost recently when President Trump let the world know that a legendary drink is changing ingredients. It’s part of a trend away from highly processed sweeteners that have long been linked to diabetes and fatty liver disease. We sent Scott Thuman to Louisiana to find out more.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

Mid-July — it is sweltering in Eddie Lewis’s fields. He is a fifth-generation sugarcane farmer.

Eddie: “So sugarcane is basically grass, and most of your sugar is going to be at the bottom, so if you chewed this plant right now it’s gonna be sweet right here and very watery at the top.”

Sugar producers got a recent sugar rush when President Trump declared that Coca-Cola would soon be using cane sugar in Coke.

Scott: “Eddie, tell me, when you first heard the president say what he did about sugar. What’d you think?”

Eddie: “I think it’s a great thing what Trump is doing. He’s selling America, and Louisiana is known for sugarcane just like Florida — the top producing states in America. And it was just refreshing to hear that Trump has the interest in our sugar business in Louisiana.”

Coca-Cola replaced cane sugar with high fructose corn syrup in the 1980s. And while fans have been debating the taste difference ever since, Coke says this change is in response to consumer demand: in line with the current trend for more natural sweeteners.

Rival Pepsi has had a cane sugar version for several years.

Scott: “Do you feel like what you’ve been preaching has been almost ignored until suddenly President Trump decides to say, ‘I like the real sugar in my Coke.'”

Eddie: “It’s a great thing that we’re getting the attention that we need at a time that we need because with tariffs going up and the price of things going up, we need that kind of help by America.”

The U.S. produces around 4-million tonnes of sugar a year, but that’s only about half of what America consumes.

Scott: “Let’s just say it’s not just Coca-Cola. Say there are other avenues that start deciding they want sugarcane instead. Can American farmers keep up with that kind of demand?”

Eddie: “Yes. Definitely. With the new technology, the new varieties of sugarcane, we definitely can meet the demand for America and also export to other countries.”

But other states — corn-producing ones — may have something to say about that as they churn out high-fructose corn syrup and won’t want to lose a valuable market.

Then there’s the health debate with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior supporting the move away from corn syrup. Though Kennedy has still called sugar “poison.”

Kennedy: “There’s things that we’ll never be able to eliminate, like sugar, and sugar is poison, and Americans need to know that.”

Scott: “But you don’t like that kind of talk when you hear him say sugar is poison?”

Eddie: “Well, I mean, to a certain extent. If you drink too much water, if you drink too much alcohol, if you do too much of anything, it’s going to hurt you. But if you do something in moderation and you have choice of how much sugar is in different products.”

And this president’s sweet tooth is about to give his favorite drink and its tempting ingredient one serious boost.

For Full Measure, I’m Scott Thuman in Louisiana.

Watch video here.