Sugar-sweetened drinks such as soft drinks, energy drinks, milk shakes, and coffee are more strongly associated with high energy intake and weight gain than any other form of processed food. In the Philippines, a review in the Philippine Journal of Internal Medicine found that 7.2% of Filipinos is reported to be diagnosed with diabetes, equivalent to about 6.3 million Filipinos and about 14.2% of the population in the Philippines already live with the risk of pre-diabetes, or have hyperglycemia or high blood sugar levels. The same study also reported that Filipinos consumed 21.4 g of sugar per capita per day from sugar-sweetened beverages alone.
Too much refined sugar intake is linked to many adverse health conditions such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and tooth decay. Obesity prevalence in the Philippines have remained low relative to other ASEAN countries. Nevertheless, a growing proportion of Filipinos of all ages are overweight or obese which is likely to substantially increase the number of productive years lost due to poor health.
The Nutrition Source and the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health has prepared a handy guide to the amounts of sugar and calories in soda, juice, sports drinks, and other popular beverages. This handy guide is named “How Sweet it is?”
In interpreting the guide, one must keep the following in mind:
1. Red Category
Drinks that fall in the red category should be drunk infrequently and sparingly. Beverages falling under the red category have much more than 12 grams of sugar in a 12 ounce serving, and some have upwards of 40 grams of sugar- equivalent to about 10 teaspoons of sugar- and 200 or more calories in a 12-ounce serving.
2. Yellow Category
Drinks that fall in the yellow category should be drunk in moderation. Drinks under this category have up to one gram of sugar per ounce, or 12 grams of sugar in 12 ounces. That’s about 70% less sugar than a typical soft drink. However, even these drinks have less sugar than high-sugar drinks, they must be drunk in moderation. One must keep in mind that these drinks are still not source of hydration as they still contain sugars.
3. Green Category
Drinks that fall in the green category are your best-choice beverages because they have little or no sugar added to them such as water, sparkling water, coffee, or tea.
Every day, we have a choice on what to eat or drink and these choices can define how our health will be in the future. Your choice, your life. Take note of this table given by the Nutrition Source and the Department of Nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. This will not only help you be informed of the drinks you need to avoid, but also this will remind you that among all other available drinks in the world, water is still the best drink that will hydrate you with zero sugar.
AA VI Cielo Katrina M. Mabalot
References:
1. “Development of a sweetened beverage tax, Philippines” from https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/97/2/18-220459/en/
2. “Sugar Amounts in Soda, Energy Drinks, Coffee, and Tea Beverages” from https://www.caffeineinformer.com/sugar-in-drinks
3. “How Sweet Is It?” from https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/sugary-drinks/how-sweet-is-it/
4. “1 in 5 Filipinos are diabetic or pre-diabetic- You might be, too” from https://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/health-and-family/2019/09/14/1950940/1-5-filipinos-are-diabetic-or-pre-diabeticyou-might-be-too
