Four out of five fizzy drinks on the UK/Irish market contain the equivalent to, or more than, the WHO recommended daily maximum for sugar intake. The survey analysed 232 sugar-sweetened drinks finding that nine out of ten sugar sweetened carbonated drinks would receive a ‘red label’ for high sugar content under traffic light labelling schemes.

Added sugars are completely unnecessary in our diets and are strongly linked to obesity and type II diabetes. The findings are troubling enough, but doubly troubling since their publication coincides with the soccer World Cup 2014, part-sponsored by soft drinks.