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.”

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