Fruit drinks and flavored waters, aimed at children, that contain either added sugar or low-calorie sweeteners, made up 62% of the $2.2 billion in childrens’ drink sales in 2018, according to Children’s Drinks FACTS 2019.
Many sugar-sweetened children’s drinks contain 5% or less of real fruit juice while most of these drinks include images of fruit. More than half of the drinks have package claims that state less or low sugar or no high fructose corn syrup while they still have added sugar. Some brands add low calorie sweeteners such as sucralose or stevia but rarely mention these additions on the front of packages.
Without reading the nutrition facts panel to note if there are added sugars and looking at the ingredient list to see if no calorie or low calorie sugar substitutes are being used it is difficult to sort healthy drinks from less desirable choices. There are, however, some brands that have developed drinks that are better choices for children such as fruit juice plus water blends with no added sweeteners. It takes some label reading to find the good choices.
