To preserve health, consumers should not only beware of the nutrient composition of foods in the three regular meals a day, but also make careful choices of beverages. In a study jointly conducted by the Centre for Food Safety and the Consumer Council, over a hundred samples of Chinese beverages available in the market were tested and reviewed with about 30% of them found to be high in sugars. The sugars content varied widely among and within different types of beverages. For example, consumption of a cup of hawthorn drink, the sample with the highest sugars content in the survey, is about to reach the upper limit of daily intake of sugars. Consumers are thus advised to take precautions of the sugars content and suitable level of drinking of every drink they consume.
The 141 samples tested include soybean milk, chrysanthemum drinks, drinks with fruit or nut ingredients and drinks containing honey and syrup. Among all, 101 non-prepackaged beverages from different Chinese restaurants, hotpot restaurants and Chinese style tea restaurants had their sugars content measured and 40 prepackaged drinks had their nutrition labels examined.
According to the “Nutritional Guidelines on Snacks for Students” issued by the Department of Health, beverages containing more than 7.5g of sugars per 100ml are considered as beverages with high sugars content. Under the existing Labelling Regulation in Hong Kong, drinks with not more than 5g of sugars per 100ml are considered low in sugar, whereas those containing not more than 0.5g of sugars per 100ml are deemed sugars free.
The test results show that among the 101 non-prepackaged beverages the sugar content varied considerably in a range from 0.027g to 19g per 100ml. 29 samples were found to have more than 7.5g of sugars per 100ml and therefore considered as beverages high in sugars. As for kumquat honey and citron honey which are regarded as relatively healthier beverages, 9 out of the 10 samples tested were considered as beverages high in sugars. The remaining one was found to contain 7.4g of sugars per 100ml, just 0.2g lower than the high sugars threshold.
Despite the sour tastes, sour plum drinks and hawthorn drinks contain a surprisingly large amount of sugar. 4 out of the 5 hawthorn drinks tested were considered as beverages high in sugars. One sample even contained 19g of sugars per 100ml and became the most sugary sample in the study. Assuming that sugars found in the samples are all free sugars, drinking a cup (250ml) of this sample would result in the intake of 47.5g of sugars, which is close to the ceiling recommended by the World Health Organization. The recommendation is that an adult with a daily energy intake of 2,000kcal should limit the intake of free sugars to less than 50g per day. By drinking a few more sips of this sample, one would have already exceeded the threshold, even without counting the intake of sugars from other food.
Luohanguo drinks, on the other hand, contain the least amount of sugars among all types of samples. 4 out of the 5 samples tested were found to be less than 0.5g of sugars per 100ml and were considered as “sugar free”. The remaining one contained 5.1g of sugars per 100ml. Besides, soybean milk was also considered as drinks with relatively low sugars content. None of the 31 samples was found to be high in sugars content. For the 4 samples with no sugars added, the sugars content ranged from 0.35g to 0.71g per 100ml only.
It is worth noting that since non-prepackaged drinks are usually handmade, the level of sugars may not be consistent for every serving.
Apart from sugars content, serving size is also a critical consideration. Many of the samples tested came from hotpot restaurants, including sour plum drinks and sugar cane drinks which are believed to aid digestion and quench thirst. Take one sugar cane drinks sample of 1.6L as an example, one cup (250ml) would contain 23g of sugars. While consumption of one glass does not exceed the limit of daily sugar intake, consumption of two would nearly reach the limit. There was an even more extreme case of a sample of sour plum drink served in a hotpot restaurant containing 40g of sugars per glass. Since it is offered for free with unlimited refill, consuming this drink without control will result in excessive sugars intake. While a considerable amount of seasonings are always used in a hotpot meal, consumers may get thirsty easily and consequently consume more beverages than usual. To this end, consumers should beware of the type and amount of drinks they consume.
As for the other 40 samples of prepackaged drinks, according to the nutrition labels on their product packages, the average amount of sugars was found to be 6.5g per 100ml. All the 3 sour plum drinks were among the 15 beverages considered as high in sugars, with the amount of sugars ranging from 10.4g to 13.5g per 100ml. As for the 16 soybean milk samples and the 3 chrysanthemum drink samples with a low-sugar claim, the amount of sugars is 0.5g to 6.8g per 100ml. All of them were not considered as high in sugars.
The nutrition information included in the label of prepackaged drinks usually indicates the sugar content per 100ml. When choosing family packs, consumers will have to measure the amount they actually drink in order to effectively control the intake of sugar.
The Council calls on the food industry to improve the manufacture process or use different ingredients to reduce the sugar level of drinks, while providing nutrition information of non-prepackaged beverages. Traders may also consider offering consumers “less sugars” or “no sugar added” options, or serve syrup or sugar with the beverages separately so that consumers can adjust the sugar level by themselves.
Consumers should pay attention to the following when choosing beverages:
- Try your best to ask for a “less sugars” or a “no sugar added” option when ordering a drink, or request to serve syrup or sugar with the beverages separately;
- Beware of the amount of drinking, especially when you are having a hotpot meal. If the beverage is served in a large portion size, consider sharing it with others to avoid intake of excessive sugars in one go;
- Sour beverages are usually sweetened with more sugars to neutralize the sour taste. Don’t pick beverages in high sugars by mistake just because they do not taste very sweet;
- When choosing prepackaged beverages, read the nutrition information and details about sugars content on the labels thoroughly;
- Maintain a balanced and diversified diet and limit the consumption of beverages containing sugars.
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