What’s the better choice: a cola or a fruit juice?
Have you ever been about to order a cola, but then opted for a fruit juice after all because you think you’ll be consuming less sugar that way? The advice of the World Health Organization (WHO) is not to consume more than 50 grams of sugar per day in total. But with some drinks, you easily get the amount of sugar for two days in one go, while you may think you’re actually making a healthy choice…
Because a can of cola (330 ml) contains as much as 35 grams of sugar. You can probably also imagine that a strawberry milkshake isn’t exactly a much healthier alternative just because it contains the word strawberry. But you also need to watch out for fruit smoothies—they can fool you too.
All sugar is created equal
There are several fruit-like drinks that contain a shockingly large amount of sugar. That may be fruit sugar, but to use the oft-repeated statement by nutrition professor Martijn Katan: your intestines don’t have eyes. So they don’t distinguish between different types of sugar.
The Consumentengids also explains it crystal clearly: “Your body processes all types of sugar in the same way. It makes no difference whether you consume granulated sugar, cane sugar, palm sugar, maple syrup or agave syrup. Honey isn’t healthier than sugar either.”
Counting calories
Zonnatura’s Dark Berry Juice, a brand that nevertheless has a ‘healthy’ image, contains 13.5 grams of sugar per 100 ml. Schulp’s organic Apple-Strawberry Juice (those small screw-top bottles that are often ordered as drinks for children) contains 11.5 grams of sugar per 100 ml. By comparison, Coca-Cola (the regular variety) contains 10.6 grams of sugar per 100 ml.
Choose consciously
We’re not saying you should order cola instead of fruit juice. But it is important to make well-informed choices. If you really want to consume less sugar (and that’s usually a good idea), order a diet version, or better yet, sparkling water or still water. If there’s just one drink you should stay far away from: that treacherous, expensive, tasteless vodka sparkling water.
Read also:
- What?? Is there really that much sugar in sweet chili sauce?
- 10 foods that also contain sugar—you had no idea
- Why you’re better off drinking diet cola than a glass of fresh orange juice
Source: Consumentengids
