Sweet and Deadly

How Coca-Cola makes Americans sick—and makes sure we don’t know it.

If we knew that Coca-Cola was among the deadliest products in our diet, would we continue drinking it in such great quantities? The Coca-Cola Company has gone to extraordinary lengths to make sure we don’t find out, as this damning exposé makes patently clear. Marshaling the findings of extensive research and deep investigative reporting, Murray Carpenter describes in Sweet and Deadly the damage Coke does to America’s health—and the remarkable campaign of disinformation conducted by the company to keep consumers in the dark.Prologue: Sending the Memo 1
Part I: Carb-O-Nation 9
Part II: A Balancing Act, 2010-2015 55
Part III: Astroturf and Taxes 141
Part IV: Coke in Court 177
Part V: The Noose Tightens 221
EPILOGUE: Coke Slips the Noose 259
Acknowledgments 267
Notes 269
Index 293“A remarkable exposé.”
—The Daily Telegraph

“Carpenter shows how Coca-Cola and the soda industry infiltrated universities, funded flawed studies, and found scientists-for-hire to mislead the public. A clear guide to the science of obesity and the role of sugar-sweetened drinks as the leading driver of the epidemic, the book shows how to stop Big Soda so our children have a healthier start.”
—Tom Frieden, President and CEO, Resolve to Save Lives; former Director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; author of The Formula for Better Health

“In this important and highly readable book, Murray Carpenter documents the role of one of America’s most profitable corporations in distorting public understanding of nutrition and health. Contrary to what we have been told in so many ad campaigns, things don’t go better with Coke.”
—Naomi Oreskes, coauthor of The Big MythMurray Carpenter is the author of Caffeinated: How Our Daily Habit Helps, Hurts, and Hooks Us. He has worked as a print and radio journalist in Maine for 25 years, and has reported for the New York Times, NPR, and the Washington Post.