You may have thought that you were doing the right thing when drinking your morning juice or packing a popper into the lunch boxes, but you could’ve been having a Coke instead.
The Obesity Policy Coalition has this morning released a report that many popular off-the-shelf juices, specifically several popular children’s juice drinks, contain as much, or more sugar than the same amount of Coca-Cola.
Sneaky marketing has been used to promote the ‘benefits’ of fruit juice, such as ‘high in Vitamin C’ or ‘free from artificial colours and flavours’, plus in the children’s juice box market, Golden Circle promotes its 250mL range as ‘perfect to fit in a school lunch box’.
But when you look at the nutrition side of things, these juices are the big culprits. Golden Circle’s Sunshine Punch is the sweetest lie at 7.7 teaspoons of sugar per 250mL, compared to Coke at 6.6 teaspoons. Other offenders include Coles Orange, Pop Tops Apple and Prima Orange fruit drinks.
Executive Manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition, Jane Martin, says that moderation is key to any packaged drink.
“Many of these fruit drinks should also be consumed occasionally, not every day. Water and a piece of fruit are much healthier choices.”
So when a child asks for a Coke with their Happy meal, and you encourage the benefits of juice, maybe think again next time, because your lack of sustenance preparation is not going to be redeemed from choosing a cup of orange sugar instead of the thirst-quenching vanilla goodness of the world’s favourite soft drink.
Words by Nicholas Soraghan
