Kids get a whole day's sugar hit in one juice

The UK’s recently announced ‘sugar tax’ is promoted as a weapon against child obesity. It specifically targets soft drinks, while milk-based and pure fruit juices are exempt. But a new study has found the sugar content of fruit drinks, including natural fruit juices and smoothies, is “unacceptably high”, with smoothies among the worst offenders.

The research, published in the online journal BMJ Open, found that almost half the products assessed contained at least a child’s entire daily recommended maximum sugar intake of 19 g (almost five teaspoons).

Increasing public awareness of the detrimental effects of sugar-sweetened drinks has prompted many parents to opt for seemingly healthier fruit juice and smoothie alternatives, but these products contained the highest sugar levels of the drinks analysed by the study.

The researchers assessed the content of ‘free’ sugars in fruit juice drinks, 100% natural juices and smoothies marketed specifically to children. ‘Free’ sugars refers to glucose, fructose, sucrose and table sugar, which are added by the manufacturer, and naturally occurring sugars in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates, but not the naturally occurring sugars found in whole fruits and vegetables, which the body metabolises differently and which act to curb energy intake.

The sugar content ranged from 0–16 g/100 mL, with the average 7 g/100 mL. But sugar content was significantly higher in pure fruit juices and smoothies.

Among the 158 fruit juice drinks analysed, the average sugar content was 5.6 g/100 mL. This rose to 10.7/100 mL among the 21 pure fruit juices tested and to 13 g/100 mL among the 24 smoothies assessed.

However, 85 juice drinks, or more than 40% of the total sample of products, contained at least 19 g of free sugars — a child’s entire daily maximum recommended amount.

Meanwhile, 78 products contained non-calorific sweeteners, such as aspartame. While safe, health experts believe that a reduction in the overall sweetness of products is required for children’s tastebuds to become accustomed to less sugar in their diets, according to the researchers.

Current dietary guidelines recommend that a serving of fruit juice/drink/smoothie should be no more than 150 mL, but only six of the products assessed matched this portion size.

Based on their findings, the researchers make several recommendations:

• Fruit juices/juice drinks/smoothies with a high free sugar content should not count as one of the UK Government’s ‘five a day’ recommendations, as is currently the case.
• Fruit should preferably be eaten whole, not as juice.
• Parents should dilute fruit juice with water or opt for unsweetened juices, and only allow these drinks during meals.
• Portion sizes should be limited to 150 mL/day.
• Manufacturers should stop adding unnecessary amounts of sugars, and therefore kilojoules, to their fruit drink/juice/smoothie products — and if they can’t do this voluntarily, the government should step in with statutory regulations.

Originally published here.