Consumers were warned yesterday that supposedly healthy fruit and tea drinks can contain more sugar than fizzy drinks like 7-Up and Coca-Cola.
The revelations by the Consumer Council sent at least one distributor hastening to add sugar-content labels to its products and brought calls from the council and a legislator for the government to set a 'low sugar' standard for such drinks.
Dietitians warned that drinking products with excessive sugar could lead to a higher risk of obesity-related diseases like diabetes.
The Consumer Council tested 42 packaged fruit beverages, including sugar cane drinks, citron drinks, ginseng drinks and aloe vera drinks.
MJ Pear Juice Drink and Hi-C Local Cafe Honey Citron Drink were found to be sweeter than soft drinks, with 10.6 and 10.4 per cent sugar content respectively, compared with 7-up with 9.6 per cent and Coca-Cola with 10 per cent.
Lotte Aloe Vera Drink claimed to be a 'low sugar' drink but did not carry a sugar content label. It was found to have a sugar level of 8.1 per cent.
The council has notified the Centre for Food Safety about this sample, asking if it was in breach of any regulation.