ArticleBMJ open2016
Cross-sectional survey of the amount of free sugars and calories in carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages on sale in the UK.
Article in BMJ open, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Modeling and empirical evidence of the impact of implementation of sugar sweetened-beverages tax to reduce non-communicable diseases prevalence: a systematic review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2024Pooled it
- The UK Food Environment: A Systematic Review of Domains, Methodologies, and Outcomes.Current developments in nutrition · 2025Review
- Laboratory analysis of glucose, fructose, and sucrose contents in Japanese common beverages for the exact assessment of beverage-derived sugar intake.Fujita medical journal · 2023Article
- Sugar Content and Warning Criteria Evaluation for Popular Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in Taipei, Taiwan.Nutrients · 2022Article
- Sugar Content of Market Beverages and Children's Sugar Intake from Beverages in Beijing, China.Nutrients · 2021Article
- Exclusively drinking sucrose or saline early in life alters adult drinking behavior by laboratory rats.Appetite · 2020Article
- Differences in Lifestyle Behaviours of Students between Inner Urban and Peri-urban High Schools: A Cross-Sectional Study in Chongqing, China.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Reductions in sugar sales from soft drinks in the UK from 2015 to 2018.BMC medicine · 2020Article
- Labelling changes in response to a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Bulletin of the World Health Organization · 2019Article
- The sugar and energy in non-carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2019Article
- The nutritional content of supermarket beverages: a cross-sectional analysis of New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK.Public health nutrition · 2018Article
- Sugar and energy content of carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages in Haidian District, Beijing: a cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo investigate the free sugars and calorie content of carbonated sugar-sweetened beverages (CSSB) available in the main UK supermarkets. STUDY
designWe carried out a cross-sectional survey in 2014 of 169 CSSB.
methodsThe free sugars (sugars g/100 mL) and calorie (kcal/100 mL) were collected from product packaging and nutrient information panels of CSSB available in 9 main UK supermarkets.
resultsThe average free sugars content in CSSB was 30.1±10.7 g/330 mL, and 91% of CSSB would receive a 'red' (high) label for sugars per serving. There was a large variation in sugars content between different flavours of CSSB and within the same type of flavour ranging from 3.3 to 52.8 g/330 mL. On average, ginger beer (38.5±9.9 g/330 mL) contained the highest amounts of sugars and ginger ale (22.9±7.7 g/330 mL) contained the lowest. Cola flavour is the most popular flavour in the UK with an average free sugars content of 35.0±1.1 g/330 mL. On average, the supermarket own brand contained lower levels of sugars than branded products (27.9±10.6 vs 31.6±10.6 g/330 mL, p=0.02). The average calorie content in CSSB was 126.1±43.5 kcal/330 mL. Cola flavour had a calorie content of 143.5±5.2 kcal/330 mL. Among the 169 products surveyed, 55% exceeded the maximum daily recommendation for free sugars intake (30 g) per 330 mL.
conclusionsFree sugars content of CSSB in the UK is high and is a major contributor to free sugars intake. There is a wide variation in the sugars content of CSSB and even within the same flavour of CSSB. These findings demonstrate that the amount of free sugars added to CSSB can be reduced without technical issues, and there is an urgent need to set incremental free sugars reduction targets. A reduction in sugars content and overall CSSB consumption will be very beneficial in reducing obesity, type 2 diabetes and dental caries.
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