Frappé Drinks Outed For Excessive Sugar Content
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- Published: Tuesday, 11 July 2023 07:35
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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The consequences of the nation’s defiant addiction to sugary drinks plays out in dental practices every hour of every day. With an array of prominent and hidden sugars being pushed at a sweet toothed public, the profession often feels like its ‘cut or moderate your consumption’ message swims against an increasingly strong tide.
Too many consumers are blissfully unaware of precisely how much sugar is in their favourite drinks. For example, a can of Coke contains 35 grams, equivalent almost to ten teaspoons. And now, a report by Which? has revealed that several well-known brands of frappé and Frappuccinos contain more sugar than Coke or Mars bars.
According to Which?, published by the widely trusted Consumer’s Association, Costa, Starbucks and Caffè Nero are selling drinks whose regular sized cup contains more sugar than an adult’s entire recommended daily limit. NHS advises that adults consume no more than 30g of ‘added’ or ‘free’ sugar a day.
A Starbucks ‘Caramel Frappuccino’ was found to contain a staggering 48.5g of sugar. Joining the Caramel Frappuccino in the dock were Caffè Nero’s delicious - or sickly depending on your taste - ‘Belgian Chocolate and Hazlenut frappé crème’ (44.5g) and Costa Coffee’s ‘Chocolate Fudge Brownie Frappé Mocha with Oat Milk’ (42.6g).
A simple and more innocent sounding Costa frappé with skimmed milk still managed to boast a tooth rotting 21.3g of sugar.
Shefalee Loth is a nutritionist at Which?. She said their findings showed that “people could be unwittingly consuming far more sugar than they realise” adding that “High Street chains need to take more responsibility and reduce the excessive sugar content of some of their drinks.”
It’s not just teeth that sugar destroys. It piles on the weight too, leading to many essentially preventable, debilitating diseases. 4.5 million people have diabetes in the UK with obesity seriously implicated in its cause.
According to Diabetes UK ‘The cost of diabetes to the NHS is over £1.5m an hour or 10% of the NHS budget for England and Wales. This equates to over £25,000 being spent on diabetes every minute.’
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