It's common knowledge that fizzy drinks are laden with sugar and linked to serious health risks such as diabetes and cancer.

So how does Coca-Cola, the world’s leading soft drink manufacturer, maintain its polished image?

A new exposé by author and journalist Murray Carpenter delves into this question, uncovering the unsettling strategies used by the company to protect its reputation.

His book, “Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spreads Disinformation and Makes Us Sick”, explores how Coca-Cola has deliberately misled the public about the safety of its products for decades.

Among the tactics highlighted are the company’s financial support of groups such as the Sugar Research Foundation and the Global Energy Balance Network.

These organisations worked to manipulate public understanding of food science in favour of Coca-Cola’s interests.

The Sugar Research Foundation, which launched in 1943, became a powerful public relations tool—paving the way for similar tactics later used by the tobacco industry.

Although Coca-Cola only partially funded this foundation; however, it was the primary force behind the Global Energy Balance Network, established in 2014.

This group promoted the idea that lack of physical activity was a more significant contributor to obesity than diet, thereby downplaying the role of sugary beverages.