DAILY MAIL
America’s 25 sweetest drinks RANKED: They contain as much sugar as 18 cookies… so is the juice really worth the squeeze?
- Many sodas, teas, and other juices are packed with more sugar than six donuts
- DailyMail.com compiled the 25 worst offenders, from Mountain Dew to Snapple
- READ MORE: Worst breakfast cereals revealed- how does YOUR favorite score?
A can of soda or a bottle of tea can be refreshing on a hot summer day, but many of these are packed with more sugar than handfuls of pastries and cookies, which can lead to serious health problems.
Soft drinks have been under scrutiny as many contain the artificial sweetener aspartame, which the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a ‘possible carcinogen’ in a bombshell report.
However, DailyMail.com found 25 sodas, teas, and energy drinks that contain the highest amounts of the sweet stuff, which, despite being natural, has still been linked to issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
And many of these drinks have significantly more sugar than the American Heart Association’s daily recommended limit: 24 grams for women and 36 grams for men. Taking into account sugar from other foods you eat throughout the day, this puts soda lovers well over safe limits.
The worst offender is a classic: Mountain Dew. With 65 grams of sugar in a 16.9-ounce bottle, the brightly colored drink has more sugar than six donuts from Krispy Kreme or 18 Chips Ahoy! cookies. Classic Krispy Kreme glazed donuts have 10 grams of sugar each, while each Chips Ahoy! cookie has about 3.5 grams.
The brand’s Baja Blast flavor, a fan favorite that’s gained widespread popularity after being sold at Taco Bell, has 59 grams in a 16-ounce serving.
That’s as much as the iconic Oreo McFlurry from McDonald’s, which has 60 grams.
If you order a large Baja Blast at the popular fast food chain, that 30-ounce serving will net you 111 grams, almost as much as a large Dairy Queen Blizzard, which can run up to 120 grams.
Too much sugar has consistently been linked to detrimental health problems. In fact, a review published in the journal BMJ in April linked high consumption of added sugars, the type of sugar in all of these drinks, to 45 negative health outcomes.
These include diabetes, gout, obesity, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, cancer, asthma, tooth decay, depression, and early death.
Sodas aren’t the only culprits. Energy drinks, in addition to containing more caffeine than a cup of coffee, also consistently had at least 50 grams of sugar. This combination of caffeine and sugar adds to the growing concerns of these drinks causing adverse health effects in kids, including cardiac arrests.
Rockstar Energy’s original flavor had the most sugar of all other energy drinks, with 63 grams.
