More than half of soft drinks sold in British supermarkets do not contain more than the maximum daily intake of sugar, in contradiction to the findings of a new study.
A team of researchers, led by Queen Mary University’s Kawther M Hashem, found that ‘55% exceeded the maximum UK daily recommendation for free sugars intake per 330ml can’. Consumers are advised not to have more than 30g of sugar a day, although the survey found that some drinks have as much as 50g of sugar in every can.
But FoodBev can reveal that sugar-free and diet options were omitted from the survey, despite it calling for all sugar-sweetened drinks to be reduced to below 5g of sugar per 100ml. Products containing the equivalent of 1g of sugar per 330ml, or even no sugar at all, were discounted from the research; FoodBev has found more than 40 different examples of branded and own-label drinks that fall into this category being sold by Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose alone.
The result has the potential to cut the researchers’ estimate of the proportion of soft drinks with more than the daily limit of sugar – claimed to be 55% – by a fifth.
Explaining the decision, Hashem told FoodBev: “We are interested in the gradual reduction in sugar content of soft drinks and, since sugar-free products contain no added sugar, then it is not within the scope of this study.”
But, according to the director-general of the British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA), the findings represent a lack of understanding around the industry’s efforts in cutting sugar from fizzy drinks.
Gavin Partington told FoodBev: “Our critics often ignore the 60% of soft drinks on the UK market which are no- and low-calorie.
“Soft drinks companies are well aware of the potential for sugar reduction in soft drinks and have reduced their consumers’ sugar intake by over 17% since 2012.
“In 2015, we also became the only food and drink category to set ourselves a calorie reduction target of 20% by 2020.”
The BSDA has launched initiatives designed to tackle the high amount of sugar in carbonated drinks and has acknowledged that sugar reduction is a pressing issue for manufacturers.
The survey from Hashem et al, released this week, found that an average can of fizzy pop contains 30.1g of sugar, and more than 90% of sugar content levels in the UK’s carbonated drinks category would be classified as ‘red’ – or high.
There was a large variation in sugar content between different flavours of fizzy drink, it said, with ginger beer being the worst offender and, coincidentally, ginger ale having the lowest mean amount of sugar. In data terms, lemonade had the lowest quantities of sugar of any of the drinks presented in the survey’s findings.
The report called for mandatory front-of-pack labelling for free sugars, greater public education, and the implementation of portion size reductions and warning labels for soft drinks.
The research was published in the journal BMJ Open.
Kawther Hashem, the co-author of the study and a researcher for advocacy group Action on Sugar, said: “Our study shows that the majority of carbonated sugar-sweetened drinks available in supermarkets exceed the maximum daily recommendation for sugar intake for an adult (30g per day) and a child (24g per day). It is therefore not possible to state that carbonated sugar-sweetened drinks can be consumed as part of a ‘healthy balanced diet’ even though drinks companies claim it can be.
“Cola flavour is the most popular flavour in the UK, owing to the huge volume consumed; even small reductions would have a significant impact on free sugars and calorie intake of the population. We hope the soft drinks industry levy will make drinks manufacturers reduce the levels of sugar in their products immediately and help reduce our risk of obesity, type-2 diabetes and dental caries.”
And Alex Holt from Food Active added: “This is a useful study and clearly shows the unnecessarily high levels of sugar in many sugar-sweetened beverages… We suffer from disproportionate levels of both childhood and adult obesity, along with diabetes and tooth decay. The high levels of sugar in these drinks certainly contributes to these serious public health issues.
“The study adds weight to the argument for a sugary drinks industry levy and the hope that many companies will follow Lucozade Ribena Suntory’s lead by significantly reducing the sugar content of their drinks.”
Almost all of the UK’s most popular soft drinks brands have zero-sugar equivalents, despite confusion around the use of different product names and the difference between ‘sugar-free’, ‘reduced sugar’, ‘diet’ and ‘no added sugar’ claims.
The UK’s largest supermarkets have also introduced extensive ranges of own-label sugar-free and diet fizzy drinks.
The amount of sugar in food and beverage products has come under intense scrutiny in recent years as the focus shifts away from good and bad fats, and in the light of the UK government’s decision to implement a levy on soft drinks manufacturers. It expects that the move will raise £520 million for the treasury.=
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