Many sweetened beverages sold at hand-shaken tea shops contain excessive amounts of added sugars that often exceed the recommended daily amount for adults, a survey released yesterday by the John Tung Foundation showed.
The survey found that the actual sugar and calories contained in beverages are often much higher than the totals claimed by businesses, as calories from added sugar and toppings are not taken into account.
The foundation from January to March examined 169 types of beverages sold at 55 branch stores operated by 22 hand-shaken tea chains in Taipei.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
Added sugars should not make up more than 10 percent of the total daily calorie intake, according to the Health Promotion Administration’s national dietary guidelines for adults, so a person who consumes 2,000 calories per day should not consume more than 200 calories of added sugars, which is equivalent to about 50g of sugar, foundation nutritionist Yu Hsuan-wen (尤宣文) said.
The foundation’s Food and Nutrition Center director Pan Chi-luen (潘紀綸) said the survey found that the beverage with the highest added sugar content was a honey lemonade with an aloe vera topping, which Pan said is often considered a healthy drink, but contains 86g of sugar per 500ml.
The second-highest was a brown sugar smoked plum juice with honey lemonade, which has 80g of sugar per 500ml, followed by iced sweetened hibiscus tea, with 63.7g of sugar per 500ml, the survey found.
While many shops list the sugar and calorie content of the beverages, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations do not require them to list the calories from toppings, such as tapioca pearls, taro balls, aloe vera, grass jelly and beans, which are prepared in sugar or syrup, Pan said.
The survey found that the actual sugar and calorie content of the beverages ranged from 2.2 to 6.9 times the amounts disclosed on labels.
For example, a cup of tapioca milk tea with red beans was said to contain 10 calories per 100ml, but the foundation discovered that it contained 69.1 calories per 100ml, Pan said.
The foundation urged the FDA to require beverage shops to include the calories from added sugar and toppings in the nutritional information for the beverages.
Some people drink a cup of hand-shaken tea as a meal to avoid excessive calorie intake, but sweetened beverages have limited nutritional value, Yu said, urging people to drink non-sweetened beverages and more water to reduce sugar intake.
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