How Much Sugar Is in a Can of Coke? Teaspoons, Cubes, and Your Daily Limit

A 12 oz (355 ml) can of Coca-Cola holds 39 grams of sugar. That is about 9 to 10 teaspoons, or close to 10 sugar cubes. So how much sugar is in a can of Coke against the guidelines? It is 156% of the WHO ideal of 25 grams, and above the American Heart Association limit for women and men.

How much sugar in a can of Coke: the exact numbers by size

Coca-Cola publishes its own nutrition data, so these numbers come straight from the source. The teaspoon and cube columns use standard conversions: a teaspoon of sugar is about 4.2 grams, and a cube about 4 grams.

The US figures come from Coca-Cola's own sugar FAQ. The 330 ml row uses the European recipe, which Coca-Cola GB lists at 10.6 g of sugar per 100 ml.

The 2 L row is arithmetic: that bottle holds about 5.6 of the 12 oz servings on the label.

What one can does to your daily sugar limit

Two bodies set the numbers most people quote. The World Health Organization advises keeping free sugars under 10% of daily energy, which is about 50 g on a 2,000 calorie day. It adds that dropping below 5%, or roughly 25 g, brings further benefit.

The American Heart Association is stricter. It suggests no more than 25 g of added sugar a day for women and 36 g for men.

Your own limit shifts with your calorie needs, though. The Daily Sugar Intake Calculator turns your calorie target into a personal number in grams and teaspoons, so you're not stuck with a generic figure.

How Coke compares with other sodas and drinks

Coke isn't an outlier. Mainstream full-sugar sodas run from about 38 g to 46 g per 12 oz can, and every one of them clears a 25 g day on its own.

Every row comes from the brand's own US label: Pepsi, Dr Pepper, Sprite, Fanta Orange, Mountain Dew, and Minute Maid, whose 8 fl oz juice panel scales to 36 g at 12 oz.

Fruit juice deserves a note. The WHO counts juice sugar as free sugar even when nothing was added, so orange juice isn't a free pass.

The useful move is to stop grading single drinks and add up a whole day. The Sugar in Drinks Calculator totals every drink you pick, in the sizes you actually buy, and shows the result in grams, cubes, and share of your limit.

Grams to teaspoons: the five second conversion

Labels give you grams. Almost nobody thinks in grams. The fix is one division.

Divide the grams of sugar by 4.2 to get teaspoons. For sugar cubes, divide by 4 instead. That's the whole method.

1. 39 g can of Coke: 39 divided by 4.2 gives 9.3 teaspoons.
2. 65 g bottle of Coke: 65 divided by 4.2 is 15.5 teaspoons, which is more than five tablespoons.
3. 25 g mini can: 25 divided by 4.2 is 6 teaspoons, which equals a whole day under the WHO ideal.

If you would rather skip the arithmetic, the Sugar Grams to Teaspoons Converter handles grams, teaspoons, cubes, and calories in one step, and the Sugar to Calories Calculator turns those calories into walking or running time.

What about Coke Zero and Diet Coke?

Both contain 0 g of sugar and near zero calories, so they add nothing to your daily sugar total.

They use non-nutritive sweeteners instead. The WHO advice above is about free sugars, and it doesn't tell you to drink sweeteners either. In 2023 guidance it advised against using non-sugar sweeteners as a way to control weight.

So treat a zero sugar cola as what it is. It's a way to cut free sugars quickly, not a health drink. Water, sparkling water, and unsweetened tea or coffee remain the plainest options.

Lower sugar swaps that actually work

Going cold turkey works for some people and fails for plenty of others. These swaps are the ones that tend to stick, because each one keeps something you liked about the drink.

• Buy the mini can. A 7.5 oz can still tastes like Coke and cuts the sugar from 39 g to 25 g. Same drink, 36% less sugar.
• Sparkling water with citrus. The fizz and the acid do most of the work your brain reads as refreshing. A squeeze of lime or lemon closes much of the gap.
• Half and half your iced tea. Mix sweet tea with unsweetened tea. You keep the flavor and halve the sugar without noticing much.
• Move the can out of arm's reach. Keep soda out of the fridge door and out of the desk drawer. Friction beats willpower on most days.

Be honest about the trade-offs. Sparkling water doesn't taste like cola, and a smaller can costs more per ounce.

If soda is the habit you want to change, the Quit Soda Calculator shows what cutting a daily can adds up to over a month, a year, and five years, in sugar, calories, and money saved.

The CDC lists sugary drinks among the leading sources of added sugar in the US diet, and the NHS says much the same for the UK. Drinks are usually the fastest fix, because you rarely miss the sugar you were not chewing.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many teaspoons of sugar are in a can of Coke?

A 12 oz can holds 39 g of sugar, which is about 9.3 teaspoons at 4.2 g per teaspoon. Counted as sugar cubes at 4 g each, it comes to roughly 10 cubes.

How many grams of sugar are in a 330 ml can of Coke?

About 35 g. Coca-Cola GB lists 10.6 g of sugar per 100 ml, and 3.3 times 10.6 gives 35 g for the can. That is the size sold across the UK and much of Europe.

Is 39 grams of sugar a lot for one day?

By the guidelines, yes. It is 156% of the 25 g ideal the WHO points to, and 156% of the AHA limit for women. It is also 108% of the AHA limit for men, and 78% of the WHO upper limit of 50 g.

Does Coke have added sugar or natural sugar?

Added. In the US the sweetener is high fructose corn syrup, and in much of Europe it is sucrose. Either way, the FDA counts it on the label under Added Sugars, and the WHO counts it as free sugar.

How much sugar is in a 2 liter bottle of Coke?

Around 220 g, or about 52 teaspoons. A 2 L bottle is roughly 5.6 of the 12 oz servings on the label, and 5.6 times 39 g gives about 220 g of sugar.

Turn the label into a number you can act on

Once you can convert grams to teaspoons in your head, sugar labels stop being abstract. A can of Coke becomes ten cubes, and a 20 oz bottle clears the WHO upper limit of 50 g on its own.

Want to see where your own drinks land? Start with the Sugar in Drinks Calculator, which runs in your browser with no signup. Sugar Lens, an added sugar tracker that estimates sugar from a photo of your food, is in development for iOS and will follow the same guideline based limits.

Sugar Tracker is an awareness and tracking tool, not medical advice. If you have a health condition that affects how you handle sugar, talk to a clinician about the right target for you.