Call for global sugar reduction targets

The survey, which reviewed 274 sugar sweetened soft drinks produced across the world, found that every single product (with available nutrition data) would receive a dangerously high red colour-coded label if it were consumed in a standard 330ml can. Furthermore, 88 per cent of products (with available nutrition data) contain more than your entire recommendation for the day. A 330ml can of Coca Cola, Pepsi or 7Up contain more than an entire adult’s maximum daily amount of free sugars for the day (25g – 6 tsp/d).

In four out of seven cases, the countries with the highest free sugars content per 330ml were in North America (either Canada or the USA), compared to countries in Europe which had the lowest sugar content.

The greatest variation between countries was in Schweppes Tonic Water with a variation of 29g (7 tsp) of sugars between the country (USA) - which produced the most sugary variety of Schweppes Tonic Water – and the country (Argentina) which produced the lowest. Sprite also had a high variation of 28g (7 tsp).

Interestingly the sugar sweetened soft drink products produced by PepsiCo generally had less nutritional information available (on average) for consumer reference (i.e. 37 per cent of the products surveyed) which adds to further concern about transparency when it comes to labelling. 

United Kingdom
In five out of seven iconic products, interestingly it is not UK manufacturers who produce the least sugary drinks (Table 2). Coca Cola in Thailand contains 3g less free sugars than in the UK (over half a teaspoon in a can).

The results clearly show that sugar sweetened soft drinks can be easily reformulated in the same way as the very successful salt reduction programme in the UK. Action on Sugar has written to all the leading supermarkets who led the initial work on salt reduction and all have agreed to reformulate their sugar sweetened soft drinks according to their own programme. What’s more, the majority will reformulate in a more coherent way with reduction targets for each soft drink category overseen by an independent agency, without the addition of artificial sweeteners and a parallel reduction in sweetness of all soft drinks.  This would result in a large reduction in the free sugars and calorie intake in the UK. Action on Sugar is now calling on the UK government to lead the world by implementing this programme immediately.

Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Queen Mary University of London and chairman of Action on Sugar, says: “Overweight and obesity increases health-care costs and threatens the economic growth on which a country’s future prosperity and well-being depend. This survey illustrates the fact that the soft drinks industry is part of the cause of the world’s growing obesity pandemic and action must be taken now.

“In the UK, all leading supermarkets are either reducing sugars in their soft drinks or have committed to follow sugar reduction targets. Jeremy Hunt has not taken any action for over a year; it’s time David Cameron took the lead on this.”

Kawther Hashem, nutritionist at Action on Sugar says:  “It’s high time soft drinks manufacturers around the world stop adding unnecessary sugars and calories to their products and work universally to set sugar reduction targets once and for all. Our research has shown discrepancies between the sugar content in the same carbonated drinks sold across the world and this needs to stop.

“People are drinking spoonfuls of sugar in their carbonated drinks. Look on the label for ‘sugars per 100ml’ and switch to a lower or no added sugar variety of your favourite drink, or even better, don’t drink them; they contain nothing of any nutritional value. Drink water and save money too!”

Aubrey Sheiham, Emeritus Professor of Dental Public Health at University College London, says: “Tooth decay is the most common cause of pain, especially in children and is the main reason why they are admitted to hospital in England.  The worldwide epidemic of tooth decay will only be controlled when manufacturers markedly reduce the levels of sugars in their products.”

Table 1: Difference in highest and lowest free sugars content of popular sugar sweetened soft drink

* No ingredients list found online to verify if non-caloric sweeteners were added
** with added non-caloric sweeteners (e.g. stevia)
*** Carbohydrate labelled not sugars (sugars will be the main source of carbohydrate)

Table 2: Comparison between countries with less free sugars than the UK

* No ingredients list found online to verify if non-caloric sweeteners were added
** with added non-caloric sweeteners (e.g. stevia)