Starbucks and Some Other Café Drinks Contain Shockingly High Sugar Content

A British nutrition advocacy group runs a campaign to raise awareness among people about the level of sugar found in beverages served at popular cafés. The group raises concern about high sugar intake and its impact on health. The initiative is named as Action on Sugar.

The group released a report which ranked the Starbucks' popular drinks on the basis of the amount of sugar contained in them.

One of the biggest finding was that many of the Starbucks' drinks contain more amount of sugar than a can of Coca-Cola, which contain 33 grams of sugar. Some of these drinks are Venti, white chocolate mocha with whipped cream containing 73.8 grams of sugar, while second comes, Venti chai tea latte, having 52 grams of sugar in it.

The sugar content in Venti caramel macchiatto was 42.1 grams. The worst drinks in context of sugar content were Starbuck's venti hot mulled fruit, grape with chai, orange and cinnamon containing 99 grams of sugar. This drink is not sold in the United States.

According to American Heart Association, ideal amount of sugar intake for men is 9 teaspoons (45 grams), whereas the amount for women is 6 teaspoons (30 grams). "These hot flavoured drinks should be an occasional treat, not an 'everyday' drink, they are laden with an unbelievable amount sugar and calories and are often accompanied by a high sugar and fat snack," said Kawther Hashem, a registered nutritionist and researcher for Action on Sugar.

The project, Action on Sugar, proposes measures that could help reduce sugar intake among consumers, so that diseases, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, could be curbed.

It promotes color-coded labeling on all foods and drinks to identify those with high sugar content and a ban on advertising of unhealthy foods and drinks to children and adolescents.