A report by British campaign group Action on Sugar has claimed that 98% of hot flavored drinks available at various coffee chains in the UK have alarmingly high levels of sugar.
In 35% of these drinks, sugar level is nine or more teaspoons, the same quantity that is contained in a can of Coca Cola and more than three times the maximum adult daily intake recommended by the American Heart Association.

Responding to the report, one of these coffee chains, Starbucks, says it has committed to reduce sugar in its “indulgent drinks” by 25% in another four years.

The research mainly emphasized on drinks sold in the UK, but nutritional information published on the companies' website show that sugar levels are similar in the US and elsewhere.

Listing out the health risks in the short, medium and long term due to the consumption of these drinks, endocrinologist and obesity expert Dr. Tony Goldstone from Imperial College London says, “Right about now, you may be having a sugar crash. You might be feeling a bit sweaty, a bit sick, and disorientated. You may even have a rapid pulse”.

Goldstone says when a person has sugar in hot drinks, it is easy to drink a large volume of liquid in a short time, and any sugar it contains is very rapidly absorbed into the body. “It would, for example, be much harder to consume the same amount of sugar if it was in the form of rice. It's one of the particular problems with sugary hot drinks”, says Goldstone.

When the sugar level in the blood rises all of a sudden, the pancreas responds by releasing lots of insulin. A very high rise of sugar in the bloodstream may put one at the risk of laying down of fat under the skin and, more worryingly, in the guts, liver and pancreas.