A gin in a tin is a national treasure.
But while we can all agree that tinnies are a wonderful thing, how many of us are aware of how much sugar lurks within each can?
Experts from Action on Sugar are calling for pre-mixed boozy drinks in cans and bottles to be subject to the same sugar tax the Government has imposed on soft drinks.
They say that pre-mixed alcoholic drinks sold in supermarkets contain as much as ‘eight or nine teaspoons of sugar’.
Researchers analysed 154 ‘ready to drink’ alcoholic drinks and found most were high in ‘hidden sugar’ and calories.
They found that only 63 products had some form of nutritional information on the pack, while only 14 had sugar information on the packaging.
Some drinks had as much as 33g of sugar (that’s eight teaspoons) in a 250ml can, while a frozen boozy sorbet contained 36g (nine teaspoons) per a 250ml serving.
Archers Schnapps & Lemonade 250ml tin and Malibu Cola 250ml tin were each found to contain eight teaspoons of sugar, for example.
The pre-mixed cocktails with the highest amounts of sugar:
Each of these is based on their standard pack.
Gin & Mixers:
- Classic Combinations Pink Gin and Tonic, seven teaspoons of sugar
- Classic Combinations Rhubarb Gin and Ginger Ale, five teaspoons of sugar
- Tanqueray Sevilla Gin and Tonic, five teaspoons of sugar
Pre-mixed cocktails:
- TGI Friday’s Passion Fruit Martini, 12 teaspoons of sugar
- TGI Friday’s Pink Punk Mojito, 12 teaspoons of sugar
- Tesco Strawberry Daiquiri Alcoholic Frozen Sorbet, nine teaspoons of sugar
‘Soft’ mixed drinks:
- WKD Blue, 15 teaspoons of sugar
- VK Blue, 13 teaspoons of sugar
- Hooch Alcoholic Lemon Brew, seven teaspoons of sugar
Spirit and mixer (not gin)
- Archers Schnapps and Lemonade, eight teaspoons of sugar
- Malibu Cola, eight teaspoons of sugar
- Goslings Dark N Stormy, eight teaspoons of sugar
Katharine Jenner, campaign director at Action on Sugar, said: ‘Gin in a tin has become a cultural phenomenon with these types of drinks often consumed ‘on the go’ and without a moment’s consideration to how much sugar and alcohol goes into making them.
‘Even if you did want to know, you can’t make a healthy choice as only one in 10 of the products surveyed had enough information available.
‘If consumers knew how much sugar was really in these drinks, would they still happily choose to drink their way to tooth decay, obesity and Type 2 diabetes?’
Graham MacGregor, professor of cardiovascular medicine at Queen Mary University of London and chairman of Action on Sugar, added: ‘Sugary alcoholic drinks are a double burden on our health: alcohol causes serious harm, and sugar in these drinks carries the same health risks as sugar in any other food or drink, which costs the NHS billions and shortens lives.
‘It is a national scandal that because these drinks contain alcohol, they are not subject to the sugar tax or any form of coherent nutrition labelling.
‘The new Government needs to act now by taking control of the alcohol industry and stop them from exploiting vulnerable young adults.’
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/01/21/pre-mixed-cocktails-tins-sugar-content-12094442/
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