High street coffee chains battling for a slice of the popular spiced-up hot Christmas drinks market are shovelling as much as 14 teaspoonfuls of sugar into each drink, it has been claimed.
An article in the Mirror online says that the Starbucks praline cookie hot chocolate contains a whopping 55.3g of sugar – nearly 14 teaspoons. To put that into context, the Mirror said that the standard four-finger KitKat weighing a 41g contained 20.5g (five teaspoons) of sugar.
It means that if you bought three Kit-Kats and ate the lot in one sitting, you'd only be consuming one teaspoon of sugar more than just one venti-size praline cookie drink. Starbucks' cup sizes are generally tall (12 ounces), grande (16 ounces), venti (24 ounces), and trenta (31 ounces).
Moreover, a venti Starbucks toffee nut coffee cappuccino contains a hefty 49.6g – 12 teaspoons – of sugar.
Costa is also in on the act — its medium Terry’s Chocolate Orange hot chocolate and light dairy swirl packs in 42.2g – 10.5 teaspoons — of sugar. And at Caffe Nero, a salted caramel brownie hot chocolate with creamy vegan topping similarly contains 42.3g of sugar.
The NHS recommends adults and children over 13 consume no more than 30g a day – that's seven teaspoons. Children under 13 should have no more than 24g (6 teaspoons) and infants no more than 19g (5 teaspoons).
Zoe Davies, a nutritionist for the campaign group Action on Sugar, called for extra sugar taxes to tackle the obesity crisis. She said: “Companies must be discouraged from adding so much unnecessary sugar to our drinks to go some way to helping prevent the unnecessary deaths and suffering of thousands.”
Dr Linda Greenwall, who founded the Dental Wellness Trust, said 45,000 people had to have operations to remove rotten teeth. “Retailers must act more responsibly,” she said.
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, blamed the Government, saying: “The majority of its obesity proposals published in July 2020 have yet to be implemented.”
Costa Coffee said sugar levels could be reduced by ordering in a smaller size and removing toppings. Caffe Nero said it had zero-calories beverages on offer, adding: “Our festive drinks are an occasional treat for customers to choose if they wish.”
Starbucks did not respond to requests for comment.
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