Sweet and Deadly

How Coca-Cola Spreads Disinformation and Makes Us Sick

Murray Carpenter

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English

MIT Press
24 February 2026

Society & culture: general

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.

Sugar-sweetened beverages are the single item in the American diet that most contributes to the epidemic of chronic disease—in particular, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease—and Coca-Cola is America’s favorite sugar-sweetened beverage, by far. Carpenter details how the Coca-Cola corporation’s sophisticated shadow network has masterfully spread disinformation for decades to hide the health risks of its product from consumers—risks disproportionately borne by Black, brown, and low-income communities. Working from a playbook of obfuscation and pseudoscience that has worked well for other harmful products, from tobacco and trans fats to opioids, Coca-Cola has managed to maintain an aura of goodness and happiness. This eye-opening book finally and fully reveals the truth behind that aura.

By: Murray Carpenter
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262053983
ISBN 10: 0262053985
Pages: 344
Publication Date: 24 February 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Murray 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 twenty-five years and has reported for the New York Times, NPR, and the Washington Post.

Reviews for Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spreads Disinformation and Makes Us Sick

""[Coca-Cola's] manipulation of science is laid bare in journalist Murray Carpenter's new book Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spreads Disinformation and Makes Us Sick. Carpenter explores how Coca-Cola has gotten away with these actions for so long and argues that not only does Coca-Cola significantly contribute to chronic disease, it has also actively and purposefully spread disinformation for decades to hide the health risks associated with its sugary beverages."" - American Scientist ""A must-read for PR people and students of disinformation."" - O'Dwyer's