Zhongguo shipin weisheng zazhi (Jan 2021)
The content of total free sugars in commercial sugary beverages in China
Abstract
Objective To investigate the content of total and individual free sugar in commercial beverages in Chinese market, and collect data for the evaluation of the free sugar intake and the risk assessment in order to provide scientific evidence for policy making. Methods According to the data on the production and sales of beverage industry in China, taking their geographical distribution into account, a total of 708 sugary beverage samples of 9 categories were collected in 2015. The content of monosaccharides and disaccharides(glucose, fructose, sucrose, galactose) were analyzed by high performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed amperametric detection according to the Association of Official Analytical Chemists(AOAC) official method 2000. 17. Results The mean content of free sugar in 708 beverage samples was 8.4 g/100 g, in which the solid beverage had the highest sugar content(41.2 g/100 g), followed by fruit and vegetable juice beverages(10.6 g/100 g), and carbonated beverages(9.2 g/100 g). Meanwhile, the fruit and vegetable juice beverages, carbonated beverages and flavored beverages had the highest glucose contents. In addition, the carbonated beverages, fruit and vegetable juice beverages and flavored beverages had the highest fructose content. The sucrose levels in solid beverages, coffee beverages, protein beverages and plant beverages were higher than that in other beverages. The total percentage of beverage samples with free sugar content greater than 10 g/100 g was 36.3%(257/708). With regard to the proportion of beverages with free sugar content greater than 10 g/100 g, the top three were fruit and vegetable juice beverages(61.8%, 89/144), carbonated beverages(52.8%, 84/159) and flavored beverages(41.7%, 5/12). Conclusion In 2015, the content of free sugar in commercial beverages in China was generally high, among which the free sugar content in fruit and vegetable juice beverages and carbonated beverages was higher than other drinks.
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