Juice drinks 'have more sugar than Coca Cola'

Several best-selling fruit drinks, often seen as healthy alternatives to pop, contain more sugar than Coca Cola. Some had up to six teaspoons of sugar, while others had a fruit juice content of 5%.

Which? magazine analysed 19 orange flavour fruit drinks to assess which were most harmful to children's teeth. Those without artificial sweeteners all contained between 8% and 12% sugar, and half had more sugar per 100ml than Coca Cola.

The sweetest, a 250ml carton of Del Monte Fruit Burst, was found to contain more than six teaspoons of sugar, making it 60% sweeter than Del Monte pure orange juice.

The survey was also critical of Sunny Delight, third best-seller behind Coca Cola and Pepsi. Its ads, aimed at children, emphasise the health aspects, but Which? found it contained three to four teaspoons of sugar in a 200ml bottle.

Which?, part of the Consumers' Association, also called for the British Dental Association to withdraw its endorsement of Ribena Toothkind. It contained less sugar and was less acidic than other fruit drinks, but research showed it was not truly "kind" to teeth.