Too much sugar in unsweetened drinks?

Filed in archive Around The Kitchen , Food for Thought on August 4, 2006

Need to cool off? Drink, drink and drink! But wait, don't just take any liquid that passes itself as beverage.

With all the talk about healthy eating, too much sugar in food, the ban on softdrinks and making a habit of reading food labels, I thought of looking at some of the most popular powdered drinks. These are usually considered kiddie drinks and are downed by the gallons especially in the summer.

And so I tested some. I won't mention any brands since almost all artificially-flavoured drinks are the same. If you think you can control the sugar by buying unsweetened mixes, then think again. I experimented on the mix:sugar ratio and all the results failed.

The usual instructions are to use a cup of sugar for one small packet to be dissolved in 2 quarts (eight cups or half gallon) of water. Too much sugar, if you ask me. With natural fruit juices or with home-brewed teas (hot or cold), I only usually use a small teaspoon and a half of sugar at most per cup.

Next I tried mixing individual servings. Half a teaspoon of the powdered juice into one cup of ice water was enough but this mix needed up to as much as five teaspoons of sugar! One teaspoon of sugar per cup was not enough - it was too synthetically sour-tasting. Two and three teaspoons were still not enough. My goodness, even with five teaspoons, the sweetness was still not overpowering because it was the acidic taste that overwhelms.

After that experiment, I realised what "hidden dangers" means when applied to food - especially when served to children. It just needs too much sugar to be palatable and you don't really notice it unless you're consciously measuring!

By the way, these are the most common chemicals that make up flavoured drink mixes: citric acid, calcium phosphate, maltodextrin, sodium citrate, natural flavour, ascorbic acid, artificial colour, artificial flavour, BHA (preservative).

No thanks! I'm squeezing and blending my own juice!