Perhaps we should be more wary of fruit juices and smoothies. These drinks that we think are healthy and diet contain more sugar than we imagine. This is in essence the message conveyed by a study by the University of Glasgow in Scotland.
The research team interviewed 2,000 people living in the UK to estimate the amount of sugar in a selection of drinks. As a result, participants overestimated the sugar content in soft drinks compared to fruit juices and smoothies. This explains why these drinks represent an important part of the daily consumption of calories. These volunteers actually consume 450 calories per day with this type of drink. This represents a quarter of the recommended daily calorie intake for a woman (a fifth of that recommended for a man).
Sugary drinks: what if we switched to water?
When asked to rate roughly the number of teaspoons of sugar in several popular drinks, they gave a far-fetched assessment. For an apple juice, an orange juice, a caffeine-based energy drink and a smoothie, the amount of sugar data was underestimated. 2 to 4 teaspoons of sugar less compared to reality.
The researchers would like to point out that the sugar in non-alcoholic drinks, drunk in excess, actually increases the risk of overweight or even obesity, diabetes, blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
“For people who have weight problems, reducing the consumption of such drinks and replacing them with water or diet drinks is a first step in reducing overall calorie intake”, emphasizes Dr Naveed Sattar, main author of the study quoted by the BBC. Substitute water for the sweet or non-calorie drinks could help lose 5% of your body weight, has also shown an American study.
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