we wanted to find out all the differences

between Coca-Cola in the UK and the US.

This is "Food Wars."

In the UK, regular Coke comes in eight portion sizes,

starting with this mini can, which is 150 milliliters.

Then we have three options which all include

250 milliliters of Coke.

Then we have our standard can, which is 330 milliliters.

Our standard plastic bottle is 500 milliliters.

From there, we move up to this bottle, which is 1 liter.

1.25 liters,

1.5 liters,

and 2.25 liters.

It's worth noting that these ones are only stocked

by a limited number of shops, including Iceland.

The supermarket chain, not the country.

And in the US, our classic Coke comes in these sizes.

The mini can, which is 7.5 ounces.

Then this mini bottle, which is 8 ounces.

Then we jump up to the standard 12-ounce can.

That also comes in a little 12-ounce bottle.

From there, we got this guy, which is the 16.9 fluid ounces,

aka 500 milliliters.

Then we have a 20-ounce bottle.

And finally, our biggest, the 2 liter,

which is also 67.6 ounces.

Now, that means as far as Coca-Cola classic is concerned,

the UK's largest size is actually 12.5% larger

than that in the US.

There is a reason why we're specifying regular Coke here.

The UK government brought in a sugar tax,

which raised the price of sugary drinks

in an effort to reduce people's sugar consumption.

Instead of raising the prices of some of their drinks,

what Coca-Cola did was just to make

the sugary versions of their drinks a little bit smaller.

For example, how the normal largest size of regular Coke

is 1.5 liters,

whereas the largest size of Coke Zero is 2 liters.

Whereas here in the US, we don't have a specific sugar tax.

So we can get our bottles of classic Coke and diet Coke

in the same size and for the same price.

As a consequence of the UK sugar rules,

it actually means that the 2.25 regular Coke

isn't our largest bottle size.

That crown

[thud]

goes to this,

the 3-liter diet Coke bottle.

Now, this absolute unit is 50% larger

than the biggest bottle in America.

If you're doing, like, a party, maybe?

If you're buying that for yourself,

like, you've got a problem.

I'm sorry.

That is ridiculously huge and really hilarious.

Now, I want to point out that on Walmart.com,

they have this 3-liter bottle of diet Coke on it,

but it's not available anywhere.

So my assumption is at one point in the United States,

there was 3-liter bottles available.

But if Walmart doesn't have it,

I'm assuming it isn't anywhere.

That being said, in terms of multipack options,

the US still comes out on top.

Our single largest multipack

is the 35-pack of 12-ounce cans.

Let's get a picture of that on the screen.

I ordered it online, and here's what they sent me.

24-pack, and nine loose cans.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but what's 24 plus nine?

It ain't 35.

And when I emailed the place that I bought it from,

they said, "Oh, sorry, you're missing two cans,

so we'll just refund you the two cans."

And I'm like, "No, I don't want the two cans,

I want the 35-pack

'cause that's what I'm doing for this video,"

and they just sent me $2 back, so thank you for that.

Anyway, so then I go, nuts to this.

I'm going to Walmart.com.

Give me the 35-pack.

Buy. Enter.

And then they sent me

three 12-packs, which is more than 35 cans,

so I guess technically they're being generous,

but once again, it's not that I need 35 cans of soda.

I need the 35-can pack for this video specifically.

There's a 35-can pack somewhere in America,

and everyone's just sending me roughly 35 cans of soda.

Thank you for that.

Our largest single item is this.

This is a 24-pack of 330-milliliter cans,

which comes to a total of 7.92 liters.

Here is everything that's in regular Coke.

Harry: Carbonated water. Joe: Carbonated water.

Harry: Sugar. Joe: High-fructose corn syrup.

Harry: Color (caramel E150d). Joe: Caramel color.

Harry: Phosphoric acid. Joe: Phosphoric acid.

Harry: And natural flavorings, Joe: And natural flavors.

Harry: including caffeine. Joe: Caffeine.

Now, obviously we don't get a full ingredients list,

because the recipe of Coca-Cola is a closely guarded secret.

At the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta,

there's reportedly a vault which contains the secret formula

written down on a piece of paper.

Who cares if the recipe gets loose?

Coca-Cola, no one's gonna edge you up.

Pepsi can't beat you.

Who cares?

I mean, how do you even make cola?

You probably just go into the factory

and eyeball it and figure it out.

It's not super famous because you don't know how to make it,

it's super famous because they edged everybody out.

You won.

Do you – I don't care.

Do you want the recipe?

I couldn't care less.

So, what do we know about the recipe?

Well, there is one obvious difference,

and that's the use of high-fructose corn syrup in the US

versus the use of sugar in the UK.

Corn syrup is everywhere in American food.

It's cheaper for manufacturers to use

because the government gives subsidies to corn farmers,

keeping the corn supply high and the prices low.

Should you be worried about consuming

high-fructose corn syrup?

The short answer is not really.

Some studies have suggested

that the negative effects of sugar

tend to come from fructose rather than from glucose,

but the high fructose in high-fructose corn syrup

only relates to its fructose content

in relation to other corn syrups.

It actually still has less fructose

than table sugar or than honey.

The main difference it causes might be the taste.

You've heard Americans talk about Mexican Coke.

You can find it in most Mexican restaurants

and in some grocery stores

next to the regular Coke in the glass bottle.

Mexican Coke is made with cane sugar;

our regular Coke is made with high-fructose corn syrup.

People tend to like the Mexican Coke more

because it has a sweeter sugary taste.

So right now to compare and contrast,

I'm going to do a blind taste test

of both American Coke and Mexican Coke.

Hang on.

And Harry was nice enough to send me

a United Kingdom Coke.

I've also got some British Coke, some Mexican Coke,

and some American Coke.

I'm now going to blindfold myself

and let our camera operator, Sarah,

pour the Cokes out for me.

I'm blindfolded. I don't know which one's which.

I'm going to try them one after the other

and try and figure out which one's which.

I'm going to start on the right.

Hm. See, it could just be mind games,

but that doesn't taste like exactly what I'm used to.

No. 2.

Ooh. OK. That one tastes pretty good.

No. 3.

These two taste pretty similar.

This one tastes a bit weird for some reason.

I'm going to guess that this one is American, on the right.

I was expecting more of a difference, I'll be honest.

I'll go with British in the middle, Mexican on my left.

Put them in front of me, and then I'll unblindfold myself.

Wow. OK.

That was Mexican Coke.

I was right about British.

I just got Mexican and American Coke mixed up.

Wow. OK.

A lot of people have really hyped up Mexican Coke to me,

and I honestly, like,

that was my least favorite of the three.

They taste exactly the same.

So I'm going to go UK, Mexico, USA.

Wow, really?

["America the Beautiful" plays]

I'm so great at pointless things!

Any other ingredients to look out for?

Well, one of them might be caramel color.

As we know, certain classes of caramel color

have a byproduct which has been linked to causing cancer.

Unfortunately, the caramel E150d

that Coke in the UK uses is one of these classes.

We reached out to Coca-Cola here in the US

to see if that was the case,

because the type is not specified on the label.

They told us that it is in fact

the same E150d caramel color in the States.

But what about diet Coke?

It still contains caramel color,

but instead of using sugar and corn syrup to sweeten it,

in the US it's sweetened with aspartame,

and in the UK it's sweetened with aspartame

as well acesulfame K.

The good news is that both the EU and the FDA say

that acesulfame K is safe for consumption.

In terms of the difference with Coke Zero,

in the US, our Coke Zero uses ace K as well as aspartame.

Rumors have existed for years claiming

that aspartame causes cancer,

but it turns out that that is likely to be false.

The claims originated from some Italian researchers

way back in 2005.

I feel like I heard about that in the '80s, but OK.

People were quick to call their methods

and results into question.

The FDA says, "the use of aspartame

as a general ... sweetener ... is safe."

While the European Food Safety Authority says,

"Studies do not suggest an increased risk

associated with the aspartame consumption

for ... leukemia, brain tumours or a variety of cancers."

There's a cool side effect for Coke

using these artificial sweeteners you might not know about.

Because they're so much more sweet than sugar per pound,

there's a tiny amount of them dissolved in your diet Coke

compared to the amount of sugar that's in a classic Coke.

That means a can of Coke is denser than that of a diet Coke.

So when you put said Coke in water ...

to the bottom.

Diet Coke ...

floats.

One other rumor we felt compelled to address

was the role of cocaine in Coca-Cola.

This dates right back to the 1800s

when the drink was invented.

Coca-Cola's official stance on this

is that there's never been cocaine in any of its products.

What it does seem to contain, however, is coca extract.

Coca is the plant from which cocaine is extracted.

Fluid extract of coca was one of the ingredients

in a list "This American Life" discovered

which was reportedly a recipe

for an early version of Coca-Cola.

And it seems like they're still using it.

In 1988, a Coca-Cola spokesperson said,

"Ingredients from the coca leaf are used,

but there is no cocaine in it

and it all is being tightly overseen

by regulatory authorities."

What's fun is that Coca-Cola got a specific exemption

from the United Nations in order to keep using

coca extract as an ingredient.