Murray Carpenter—Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spreads Disinformation and Makes Us Sick

SWEET AND DEADLY:
HOW COCA-COLA SPREADS DISINFORMATION
AND MAKES US SICK
Murray Carpenter
MIT Press, March 25, 2025, $29.95
ISBN-13: 9780262049504

Carpenter reports:

Sweet and Deadly evolved from my book Caffeinated. In researching and writing that book, I learned that the caffeinated beverage Americans consume most, by volume, is soda. Caffeine is an essential ingredient in all of America’s top-selling sodas. As I learned more about sugar-sweetened beverages, I realized they have contributed greatly to the chronic disease crisis.

In the book, I argue that an ever-growing body of research shows that sugar-sweetened beverages are the single item in the American diet that most contributes to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, all of which kill millions of Americans annually. Most Americans still have not gotten the memo. This is partly because Coca-Cola—the soda industry leader by a long shot—has spent decades developing a highly effective disinformation campaign designed to discredit and hide the health science.

To make my case, I interviewed health researchers and doctors, mined archives, and covered a court case pitting two Washington, D.C., pastors against Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association.

An assignment for the Washington Post Magazine allowed me to start the early reporting by covering Crossfit founder Greg Glassman’s feud with soda companies. I then developed a book proposal with my agents Sascha Alper and Larry Weissman. The book eventually found a home at MIT Press, where editor Beth Clevenger and her team have been incredibly attentive and helpful.

My advice to authors is to find a topic you are obsessed with, so that it will keep your attention for the years between inception and publication. It’s also important to find a good agent, because it helps to have another person on your team who is invested in the book’s success. Because writing a book can be a lonely process, try to develop a network of authors, writers, and journalists with whom you can compare notes, commiserate, and celebrate.

Contact info:

• Murray Carpenter, 207-299-0131, http://www.murraycarpenter.com/
• Bluesky: @murray-journo.bsky.social
• Instagram: @murray_carpenter
• Book: Sweet and Deadly: How Coca-Cola Spreads Disinformation and Makes Us Sick
• Publicist: Katie Lewis, lewisk@mit.edu
• Agents: Larry Weissman and Sascha Alper: larry@brooklynliterary.com

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