How much sugar is in your fizzy drink?

We are often told that we need to cut down on sugar, and the UK sugar tax tried to do that for us, by increasing the price of sugar containing drinks. But of course, people still consume fizzy drinks, and I know why - they're tasty and refreshing! 

This blog post is to allow people to make informed choices about their fizzy drinks and highlight the amount of sugar they can contain.

How much sugar should we be having each day?

The government guidelines state that adults should have no more than 30g of free sugars a day. Free sugars are any sugar added to food or drinks and the sugar in fruit juice or smoothies. 

It's worth noting that sugar can be found on a food label as honey, fruit juice concentrate, syrup, molasses, hydrolysed starch, or anything ending in ‘ose’ like dextrose or fructose.

Why do we need to limit sugar?

Excess sugar and fizzy drink consumption is linked to being overweight or obese. This is due to the excess calorie intake and the metabolic effects of sugar. But it’s important to remember that having one fizzy drink won't cause weight gain or any ill effects, it’s having them regularly that can add up. 

Fizzy drinks can also damage teeth due to the sugar and the acid in the drink. The acid can wear away the enamel and the sugar can feed the bacteria that produce decay. This could lead to a very expensive trip to the dentist.

How much sugar is in a can of fizzy drink? 

I've compiled a list of some of the popular fizzy drinks, and their sugar content, so you've got a quick reference point. 

Drink:	Free sugar content per 330ml:
Pepsi	36g
Coca Cola	35g
7up	23g
Irn Bru	16g
Dr Pepper	16g
Fanta Fruit Twist	16g
Fanta Orange	15g
Rubicon Mango	15g
Sprite	11g

As the table shows, some of the fizzy drinks have more sugar in one can than the daily recommended amount! And if someone has a fizzy drink and eats other free sugar containing foods, it can add up.

How much sugar is in fruit juice?

Fruit juice and smoothies count towards the 30g free sugars a day because the sugar has been released from within the fruit cells during the juicing/blending process, and so is absorbed faster. 

150ml is the recommended amount of fruit juice to consume. It even counts as 1 portion of your 5 a day and is packed with vitamins and minerals which are essential for health. But remember that drinking any more than 150ml won't give you another portion of your five a day. 

I've compiled another quick reference list for you, not including smoothies as the sugar content will vary depending on what's in it.

Fruit juice:	Free sugar content per 150ml:
Grape	25g
Tropical	17g
Apple	13g
Orange	12g

How to limit the amount of free sugars you drink: 

The best ways to limit the amount of sugar you drink are to:

• Opt for sugar free fizzy drinks
• Drink sugar-containing drinks in moderation

Sugar free or diet versions of fizzy drinks are a great way to enjoy the taste but reduce your sugar intake. So if you drink fizzy drinks a lot it can be worth swapping to these versions. However, it’s important to note that the drinks are still fizzy which means they're acidic and can damage your teeth. 

Having fizzy drinks in moderation as part of a healthy diet is another option to minimize the excess sugar. If you have a can of fizzy drink daily for example, you could try to reduce it to one or two a week to give you more balance.

This post isn’t meant to make you feel guilty, but it is just to be aware of the amount of sugar in some drinks. 

I think now there's a lot of press about blood sugar levels and reducing spikes this post was due for a refresh. You can see my other post about blood sugar monitoring here. 

Key points:

• The government advice is to have no more than 30g of added sugar a day
• Excess sugar can lead to weight gain and tooth decay
• Some fizzy drinks have more than 30g of sugar in a single can
• Fruit juice also contains sugar, but is one of your five a day and has vitamins and minerals which are essential for health

I hope you enjoyed this post.

Bye for now! 👋

References:

30g recommendation: https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/food-and-diet/how-much-sugar-is-good-for-me/

Sugar/fizzy drinks linked to obesity: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16895873/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26194333/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26376619/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29772560/

Fizzy drinks and dental health: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14972061/ and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16498075/ and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2676420/