{"id":1549,"date":"2013-03-16T20:23:06","date_gmt":"2013-03-16T20:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thetestpage.co.uk\/?p=1549"},"modified":"2020-11-19T10:36:18","modified_gmt":"2020-11-19T10:36:18","slug":"sugar-rush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetestpage.co.uk\/index.php\/2013\/03\/16\/sugar-rush\/","title":{"rendered":"Sugar Rush"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There was an interesting article published in The Times this week (The fructose timebomb: it\u2019s sweet drinks that are making our children fat | The Times<\/a>).  Most of us know that fizzy drinks aren\u2019t a healthy option. Coca Cola is my particular bugbear as it has no redeeming features \u2013 10 teaspoons of sugar in the average can and high caffeine content to boot, but all fizzy drinks are harmful. Full of empty calories, aside from the high sugar content, they are full of artificial colours and flavourings, and many, including coca cola are high in phosphoric acid, which results in calcium being leached from the skeleton and leads to osteoporosis.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Sharon McCutcheon<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What shocked me, after reading this article, was just how much sugar there was in seemingly healthy drinks (see chart below). My favoured smoothie bought for the children contains pretty much the same amount of sugar as coca cola. I mean, I know juices aren\u2019t great for you, and I have been banging on about it to my children for ages, and limiting their intake as a consequence. It just doesn\u2019t make sense that we can drink a juice in a matter of seconds with impunity when, if we actually ate the equivalent fruit from which the juice was taken, it would take us some considerable time (and our hunger would be satisfied before<\/em> we finished eating). It\u2019s just too easy to mindlessly knock back juices without considering what we are actually consuming. Moreover, as we are told that juices can count as one of our \u201cfive a day\u201d, we believe we are actively improving our and our children\u2019s health by doing this<\/p>\n

How much sugar is in your drink?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Photo by Aserusainhuu<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Average serving size: 250ml<\/p>\n

1. Fanta<\/b> 12.2g sugars \/ 50 kcal per 100ml
\n2. 7Up<\/b> 11g sugars \/ 41 kcal per 100ml
\n3. Waitrose squeezed smooth orange juice<\/b> 10.6g sugars \/ 47 kcal per 100ml
\n4. Coca-Cola<\/b> 10.6g sugars \/ 42 kcal per 100ml
\n5. Sprite<\/b> 10.55g sugars \/ 43.5 kcal per 100ml
\n6. Innocent strawberry & bananas smoothie<\/b> 10.52g sugars \/ 53.2 kcal per 100 ml
\n7. Sunny Delight \u201cCalifornia style\u201d <\/b>8.7g sugars \/ 38 kcal per 100ml
\n8. J2O apple & mango<\/b> 6.2g sugars \/ 27 kcal per 100ml
\n9. Orange Tango<\/b> 4.3g sugars \/ 19 kcal per 100ml
\n10. Diet Coke<\/b> 0g sugars \/ 0.25 kcal per 100ml<\/p>\n

Sources: Coca-Cola; innocent; Sunny Delight; Britvic Soft Drinks; Waitrose<\/em><\/p>\n

Dr Robert Lustig, a specialist in endocrinology, has set out to expose the sugar industry, and supports the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (ARMS) who, as an anti-obesity measure, is demanding a 20% tax on high-sugar drinks. Several countries, including France, have recently imposed a duty on sugary drinks at 20p per litre.<\/p>\n

Dr Lustig explains why fruit juices in particular are so deleterious to health. The sugar content, or fructose (simply sugar contained in fruit, vegetables and honey), is slightly higher in, for example, orange juice, than the average fizzy drink. Fructose is metabolised by the liver, the only part of the body able to do this job. So when a fruit juice or smoothy is consumed, the liver is hit by a massive dose of sugar that it has to process. Often the body simply cannot cope with the traffic and is overloaded with toxins; this is when problems such as non-alcoholic fatty liver, cirrhosis and other liver diseases can develop.<\/p>\n

According to Dr Lustig, fructose is the main cause of metabolic syndrome, the precursor to diabetes, which has become an epidemic along with obesity in the western world. You don\u2019t have to be obese to get metabolic syndrome; many seemingly slender people suffer from it, and it is on the rise in tandem with our increased intake of fructose (fructose consumption has increased sixfold over the past century, according to Dr Lustig).<\/p>\n

So, what can we drink instead of fizzy drinks and juices?<\/strong><\/p>\n