High street chains serving drinks with too much sugar
Reliant on the caffeine spike a morning brew offers to face the day ahead, the British Coffee Association revealed that the UK’s coffee consumption has soared to 95m cups a day in 2018, up from 70m in 2008.
That’s an increase of 25m over the past 10 years.
It may give you that energy boost you’re after, but have you ever stopped to consider the nutritional value of your favourite coffee when purchased from one of the leading retailers in the UK?
Health and nutrition experts at Nuyoo have compared classic hot drinks from Starbucks, Pret A Manger, Costa, Caffè Nero and Greggs to see which brands slip in the most sugar.
Maximum daily intake exceeded
Currently, the recommended maximum daily intake of added sugar for an adult is 30g or around seven teaspoons.
Shockingly, Pret A Manger serves a hot chocolate with 35.5g of sugar. That’s the equivalent to 10 teaspoons of sugar and is 5.5g above the recommended maximum daily intake.
Caffè Nero takes the crown for the ‘healthiest’ cappuccino, with only 5.2g of sugar for its regular size brew. Starbucks’ own had exactly double the amount of sugar in its serving.
Again, Caffè Nero sets the standard for low sugar coffee with its mocha containing 19g, meanwhile Greggs’ version contained a whopping 30g.
Obesity crisis
In 2016, popular hot drinks from the same chains were found to contain 25 teaspoons of sugar.
Starbucks, Costa and Caffè Nero were all accused of fuelling a “national obesity crisis” with their sugar-laden speciality drinks.
A large – or a venti – serving of Hot Mulled Fruit drink from Starbucks had 99g of sugar recorded inside, more than three times the recommended maximum for an adult.
