Too much sugar in Danish soft drinks

A survey shows soft drinks sold in Denmark contain more sugar than in other countries and that levels exceed maximum daily recommendations

Lucie Rychla

If you buy a soft drink in Denmark it contains up to 50 percent more sugar than the same product sold in Austria or Argentina.

An analysis of 274 soft drinks carried out in several countries by Action on Sugar, an activist group demanding sugar reduction, demonstrates that not all soft drinks are produced in the same way.

“Totally unacceptable”
While a can of Fanta sold in Denmark contains 35 grams of sugar, in Germany it has 30 grams and in the UK 23 grams.

The study found 88 percent of all the tested soft drinks contained more than the 25-gram daily dose of sugar recommended by the World Health Organisation.

“Both the authorities and producers should be ashamed of these totally unacceptable and huge differences,” Camilla Udsen, a senior consultant at Denmark’s consumer council Forbrugerrådet Tænk, told Metroxpress.

“We should be able to count on products being the same within the EU – otherwise what do we have the open market for?”

Sugar leads to obesity
Action on Sugar demands that governments and manufacturers immediately begin to cut the level of sugar in soft drinks.

“Overweight and obese citizens lead to increased health costs and threaten economic growth that is essential for a country’s wealth and welfare,” stated Graham MacGregor, the chairman of Action on Sugar.

“Our study shows the soft drinks industry is contributing to the world’s growing obesity epidemic and something has to be done about it.”

TOP STORIES

Connect club

Connect Club is your gateway to a vibrant programme of events and an international community in Denmark.

Sign up here

Career

  • How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    How internationals can benefit from joining trade unions

    Being part of a trade union is a long-established norm for Danes. But many internationals do not join unions – instead enduring workers’ rights violations. Find out how joining a union could benefit you, and how to go about it.

  • Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals in Denmark rarely join a trade union

    Internationals are overrepresented in the lowest-paid fields of agriculture, transport, cleaning, hotels and restaurants, and construction – industries that classically lack collective agreements. A new analysis from the Workers’ Union’s Business Council suggests that internationals rarely join trade unions – but if they did, it would generate better industry standards.

  • Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    Novo Nordisk overtakes LEGO as the most desirable future workplace amongst university students

    The numbers are especially striking amongst the 3,477 business and economics students polled, of whom 31 percent elected Novo Nordisk as their favorite, compared with 20 percent last year.

Want to advertise your job with CPH Post?

Contact us

Jobs