'Shocking' amounts of sugar found in popular hot drinks

A British campaign group called 'Action on Sugar' criticizes coffee shops like Starbucks for selling hot drinks with excessive amounts of sugar. For many of us, the day doesn't properly begin until we've had our morning fix of coffee. Now analysis has shown that what we're drinking isn't just milk and caffeine but worrying levels of sugar.“These are hot drinks and they're very calorific as a result of the sugar content and will contribute to tooth decay, weight gain, particularly, when you're not usually associating those products with that much calories and sugar.”As an example, a can of coke has an average of 9 teaspoons of sugar, but that's nothing compared to a Caffe Nero's Caramel Latte with 13 teaspoons of sugar. A Costa Chai Latte has 20 teaspoons of sugar but the worst offender was a Starbucks’s hot mulled fruit drink with 25 teaspoons of sugar, which is over 3 times the recommended daily intake.The drinks with the highest levels of sugar were found to be flavoured coffee, such as mochas and lattes, with many people not realising how much hidden sugar they’re drinking.“I’m diabetic so I can't have that!”.“There are definitely a lot of sugars, I know, in coffee generally. That's why I drink black coffee.”.“Well, I had a Caramel Machiatto, so there was plenty more than that in my drink that I chose for myself, but it's not something that I frequently have, so it really, actually, was a treat.”.“It's a Burnt Caramel Latte, so it's probably got even more than that. Love it! Love sugar!”.Costa and Starbucks say they’re committed to reducing sugar content, but the advice is to choose hot drinks with less sugar and make it an occasional treat.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-35593007

http://www.actiononsugar.org/News%20Centre/Surveys%20/2016/170865.html

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/17/health/starbucks-sugary-drinks-health/

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/17/cafe-chains-selling-drinks-25-teaspoons-sugar-starbucks-costa-coffee

http://www.treehugger.com/health/shocking-amounts-sugar-found-popular-hot-drinks.html