Nutrients of common non-prepackaged beverages in the local market

The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) today (April 1) released results of its recent study on the nutrient contents of common non-prepackaged beverages in Hong Kong.

"Information on nutrient composition of foods is essential for people to make healthier food choices," a CFS spokesman said.

The study examined the nutrient contents of samples of 73 types of non-prepackaged beverages taken from the local market, including 23 hot and 50 cold beverages, such as coffee, "yuan-yang"(mixed coffee milk-tea), milk tea, lemon tea, soybean milk, milk tea with pearl tapioca, red bean icy drink, "Cendol" icy drink and pineapple icy drink. Analyses on energy and nine nutrients (including sugars) were conducted.

Results showed that the energy content of the samples ranged from 12 to 87 kcal per 100ml, sugars from 0 to 12 grammes per 100ml, fat from 0 to 3.9 grammes per 100ml, and cholesterol from 0 to 8.3 milligrammes per 100ml. And most samples contained no or only trace amount of dietary fibre.

The three hot beverages having the highest energy content are chocolate drink (no sugar added), caffe mocha (no sugar added) and milk tea with pearl tapioca (no sugar added), with levels ranging from 57 to 75 kcal per 100ml. The three hot beverages with the lowest energy content are espresso (no sugar added), lemon tea (no sugar added) and lemon coffee (no sugar added), at levels ranging from 12 to 18 kcal per 100ml.

The three hot beverages with the highest sugar content are lemon and kumquat honey, citron tea and sour plum drink, at levels ranging from 9.5 to 11 grammes per 100ml. The three hot beverages having the lowest sugar content are espresso (no sugar added), soybean milk (no sugar added) and lemon tea (no sugar added), with levels ranging from 0 to 0.82 gramme per 100ml.

For cold beverages, the top three in terms of energy content are "Cendol" icy drink, tri-colour icy drink and red bean icy drink, with levels ranging from 80 to 87 kcal per 100ml. The three with the lowest energy content are iced lemon soda, iced salted lemon soda and iced lemon honey (less sweet), with levels between 23 and 24 kcal per 100ml.

The three cold beverages with the highest sugar content are pineapple icy drink, tri-colour icy drink and red bean icy drink, with levels between 11 and 12 grammes per 100ml. The three with the lowest sugar content are iced milk tea with pearl tapioca (less sweet), iced green tea with pearl tapioca (less sweet) and iced cocoa drink (less sweet), with levels between 3.9 and 4.5 grammes per 100ml.

The World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations recommend that the intake of free sugars should be limited to less than 10% of the total energy intake. Free sugars include all monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods by manufacturers, cooks or consumers, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices. An individual with a daily intake of 2,000 kcal energy, for example, should limit free sugars intake to less than 50 grammes per day.

"For those beverages found to contain high sugar content, consuming two cups (about 240ml per cup for hot beverages and about 300ml per cup for cold beverages) of any of them would contribute to an intake of close to or over 50 grammes of free sugars. High intake of free sugars may result in weight gain. Overweight and obesity increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, certain cancers, and type 2 diabetes," the spokesman said.

"Results of the study suggested that energy and sugar contents of non-prepackaged beverages vary, whilst their cholesterol and dietary fibre content is generally low. The energy and sugar contents of cold beverages made with less sugar in ‘less sweet' format are generally lower than those made in the regular format.

"To prevent excess intake of energy and sugars from non-prepackaged beverages, members of the public should choose non-prepackaged beverages with lower energy and sugar content or order the less sugar, ‘less sweet' version of cold beverages instead of the regular version. As a teaspoon of sugar contains about 16 kcal of energy and 4.2 grammes of sugar, people should add less sugar to hot beverages like coffee and tea. The public should also maintain a balanced diet and limit the consumption of sugary beverages.

"Members of the trade are advised to provide sugar or syrup to consumers separately instead of mixing them in beverages before serving to consumers, add less sugar to beverages if they must be pre-sweetened before serving, and provide the less sugar, ‘less sweet' version of beverages to consumers."

Ends/Wednesday, April 1, 2009