A health risk assessment and evaluation of sugar levels in soft drinks

Abstract

There is a rising tendency among early adults of consuming natural drinks over soft drinks. Because of some practical limitations, still they consume unhealthy instant drinks which contain excessive added sugar. Yet, the upper and lower exposure limit of added /sugar of soft drinks has not been scientifically assessed in comparison to the accepted limits of the American Heart Association (AHA). Therefore, this study was conducted with a social survey and laboratory analysis to evaluate sugar levels of soft drinks to ascertain health risks. Seven soft drink brands were selected at the local market and total and reducing sugar contents were evaluated by the Lane-Eynon method. The survey results showed that the exposure level for males was 0.8 to 7 g/day, whereas the same for females was 0.8 to 12 g/day. In this population about 11% of women and 4% of men are at the risk of lower exposure limit while 52% of women and 23% of men are at risk of upper exposure limit where the recommended maximum daily exposure to added sugar is 2.93 g/day for females and 4.23 g/day for males. This exposure level of the selected population ranged from 0.8 to 12 g/day. All samples considered in this study have the potential for enamel dissolution since their pH values considerably lower the critical level of 5.5. The outcomes of the study indicated that young adults must be watchful towards excessive added sugar from instant drink. Furthermore, as a suggestion, it must be required to promote natural drinks to ensure a healthy generation in the future.