Shocking sugar levels in drinks from high street cafes

Charity “Action on sugar” recently analysed 131 hot drinks and found that at least a third contained as much sugar as a can of Pepsi or Coca-Cola, which contains nine teaspoons.  Surprisingly, in the worst cases the drinks contained 20 or more teaspoons of sugar.  The drinks assessed included flavoured coffees such as mochas and lattes, hot fruit drinks and hot chocolates from coffee shops and fast food chains.

98% of the drinks tested would receive a red nutritional value label for high sugar content. According to the NHS, the recommended maximum intake of added sugar per day for those aged 11 and over is about 30g or seven teaspoons.

The group’s researcher Kawther Hashem called on coffee shop chains to reduce the amount of sugar in their drinks, improve their labelling and scrap extra-large serving sizes.  “These hot flavoured drinks should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink,” she said.

Professor Graham MacGregor, Action on Sugar chairman, said the group’s report highlighted “yet again another example of scandalous amounts of sugar added to our food and drink”.

The health complications of a diet too high in sugar are becoming more and more prevalent in society. Diabetes Mellitus is a condition when the body does not have enough insulin to deal with the sugar in your blood. Gestational diabetes affects pregnant women and is related to a high blood sugar level.  In some cases it can cause serious health complications including foetal abnormality, high blood pressure, problems during labour and in worst cases miscarriage and stillbirth.

Reassuringly, coffee shop chains Starbucks, Costa and Caffe Nero have said they are committed to reducing sugar content in their drinks.

If you have any concerns about your own health always contact your midwife and for more information on gestational diabetes see our page here.

Photo credit and for more on this story see the BBC article here