Global Food Field Guide

What's Really in Your Soda?

We lined up nine of the world's best-selling soft drinks and read every label. Same fizzy water, wildly different sugar, caffeine, sweeteners and dyes.

Verified June 2026 • Read the wrapper for the final word — recipes change

● Listed explicitly on the label ● Present but grouped under a generic term × Not listed ? Not documented in reviewed sources

Swipe the table sideways to see every column →

Ingredient	🇺🇸 Coca-Cola Coca-Cola Co · US	🇺🇸 Pepsi PepsiCo · US	🇺🇸 Sprite Coca-Cola Co · US	🇺🇸 Fanta Orange Coca-Cola Co · US	🇺🇸 Dr Pepper Keurig Dr Pepper · US	🇺🇸 7Up Keurig Dr Pepper · US	🇺🇸 Mountain Dew PepsiCo · US	🇺🇸 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Coca-Cola Co · US	🇺🇸 Diet Coke Coca-Cola Co · US
Shared base — what nearly all contain
Carbonated water	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Natural flavors	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	●
Caffeine	●	●	×	×	●	×	●	●	●
Sweeteners — sugar vs. substitutes
High-fructose corn syrup	●	●	●	●	●	●	●	×	×
Sugar (added alongside HFCS)	×	●	×	×	×	×	×	×	×
Aspartame	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	●	●
Acesulfame potassium (Ace-K)	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	●	×
Acids — the tang & the bite
Phosphoric acid	●	●	×	×	●	×	×	●	●
Citric acid	×	●	●	●	×	●	●	×	●
Colours
Caramel color	●	●	×	×	●	×	×	●	●
Yellow 6	×	×	×	●	×	×	×	×	×
Red 40	×	×	×	●	×	×	×	×	×
Yellow 5 (tartrazine)	×	×	×	×	×	×	●	×	×
Preservatives & stabilizers
Sodium benzoate	×	×	●	●	●	×	●	×	×
Potassium benzoate	×	×	×	×	×	●	×	●	●
Calcium disodium EDTA	×	×	×	×	×	●	●	×	×
Citrate salts (sodium/potassium citrate)	×	×	●	×	×	●	●	●	×
Distinctive extras
Orange juice (from concentrate)	×	×	×	×	×	×	●	×	×
Glycerol ester of rosin	×	×	×	●	×	×	●	×	×
Gum arabic	×	×	×	×	×	×	●	×	×
Modified food starch	×	×	×	●	×	×	×	×	×

So which is the least healthy?

Comparing fairly means using one serving size: a 330ml / 12oz can. On that basis the gap is stark — the sugary sodas range from 38 to 46 g of sugar per can (that's 9–12 teaspoons), while the diet and zero versions carry essentially none. Mountain Dew tops both charts: the most sugar and the most caffeine.

Sugar per 330ml can

Mountain Dew

46 g Most sugar

Fanta Orange

44 g

Pepsi

41 g

Dr Pepper

40 g

Coca-Cola

39 g

Sprite

38 g

7Up

38 g

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar

0 g Sugar-free

Diet Coke

0 g Sugar-free

Caffeine per 330ml can

Mountain Dew

54 mg Most caffeine

Diet Coke

46 mg

Dr Pepper

42 mg

Pepsi

38 mg

Coca-Cola

34 mg

Coca-Cola Zero Sugar

34 mg

Sprite

0 mg

Fanta Orange

0 mg

7Up

0 mg Caffeine-free

A regular cola runs about 11 g of sugar per 100 ml — Coca-Cola Classic and Pepsi sit right around there, well above the ~5 g/100ml threshold many health bodies use to flag a drink as "high sugar."Mountain Dew is the densest at roughly 13 g of sugar per 100 ml plus about 15 mg of caffeine per 100 ml — the highest of both on this list.

By the numbers, Mountain Dew is the least healthy can here: it carries the most sugar (46 g, ~11 teaspoons) and the most caffeine (54 mg), and it's the only one dyed with Yellow 5. Fanta Orange is a close runner-up on sugar (44 g) and adds both Yellow 6 and Red 40. The diet and zero versions sidestep the sugar entirely but trade it for artificial sweeteners.

US recipe vs. EU recipe

These figures reflect US formulas, which sweeten with high-fructose corn syrup. In the EU and UK the same brands typically use sugar (sucrose) instead, and several differ further — EU Fanta, for example, contains fruit juice and natural colours rather than Yellow 6 and Red 40, and many EU recipes have lower sugar where sugar taxes apply.

"Zero" isn't free of trade-offs

Diet Coke and Coca-Cola Zero Sugar cut the sugar to nothing, but do it with aspartame (and Ace-K in Coke Zero). They're calorie-free, yet they still carry caffeine — Diet Coke actually has more caffeine (46 mg) than regular Coke (34 mg).

Caffeine adds up

Six of these nine cans contain caffeine. Citrus and orange sodas — Sprite, Fanta and 7Up — are caffeine-free, while the colas and Mountain Dew range from 34 to 54 mg per can.

Read the label yourself

Recipes change and vary by country and pack size. All values here are per 330ml/12oz can, taken from official brand and manufacturer nutrition pages (Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Keurig Dr Pepper) as of June 2026. Always check the can in your hand — the ingredient order and sweetener can differ from what's shown here.

Sources

Ingredient formulations, allergen statements and product sizes change over time and between manufacturing facilities. This infographic reflects published lists reviewed in June 2026 and is for general interest only. For allergy, dietary or regulatory decisions, always read the wrapper of the specific product in your hand.