Coca-Cola and Pepsi brands differ in sugar around the world

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Action on Sugar tested the levels of 274 sugar-sweetened soft drinks
It found Sprite in Thailand had the most sugar of any 330ml can at 47g
Schweppes Tonic Water in the U.S. and the UK had the biggest difference
World Health organisation recommends just 25g - six teaspoons - per day
Can of Coke in both the UK and the US contains 9 teaspoons of sugar

By Kate Pickles For Mailonline and Sean Poulter for the Daily Mail

Published: 18:02 EST, 30 September 2015 | Updated: 03:00 EST, 1 October 2015

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Cans of Coke and other top brand fizzy drinks contain wildly differing amounts of sugar - depending on where they are sold in the world.

Tests found some leading-name drinks had more than double the sugar content of their equivalents bought in other countries.

In some cases, the difference was as much as six teaspoons - the recommended amount for an adult to consume in an entire day.

The research on popular drinks, including Dr Pepper and Fanta, was collected by Action on Sugar.

The UK campaign group is demanding that big brands take urgent steps to cut the amount of sugar in soft drinks.

Tests carried out by Action on Sugar have revealed the countries where popular fizzy drinks have the highest and the lowest sugar contents

Sprite in Thailand fared worst overall with a staggering 12 teaspoons of sugar in one 330ml can.

This was compared to five teaspoons in countries including the Netherlands and France.

The same serving of Schweppes Tonic Water had 11 teaspoons of sugar in the USA versus just four in the UK.

Of the 274 sugar-sweetened soft drinks tested, researchers found every single product would get a red colour coded label - to indicate the dangerously high levels.

Health campaigners, who compiled the figures, warned that adults and children are consuming huge quantities of hidden sugar in processed food and drink, fuelling obesity and poor health.

By 2030, an estimated 2.16 billion people worldwide will be overweight and, of these, 1.12 billion will be classed as obese.

The World Health Organisation recommends people should cut their sugar intake to a maximum of 25g a day, or six teaspoons, and that a reduction to below five per cent of total energy intake would have 'additional benefits'.

REVEALED, HOW COCA-COLA VARIES AROUND THE WORLD

* Drinking a can of Coke in Canada will give you 10 teaspoons of sugar

* Thailand had the joint lowest of eight teaspoons

* Version in the UK and US both contain nine

Overall, four out of the seven drinks with the highest sugar content were in North America or Canada, while Europe had the lowest sugar content.

Drinking a can of Coke in Canada will give you 10 teaspoons of sugar whereas Thailand had the joint lowest of eight teaspoons (the UK and US both contained nine).

Meanwhile, a Japanese or Kuwaiti Pepsi was found to have 10 teaspoons while one bought in the US, Serbia or Germany was slightly less at nine teaspoons.

A drink of Fanta in Ireland, Argentina or the UK had six teaspoons of sugar whereas one produced in India contained almost double.

Action on Sugar said the companies have shown it is possible to have lower sugar levels in some countries and it called for this reduction to be applied to all their products, regardless of where they are sold.

It said sugar-sweetened soft drinks were linked to the escalating worldwide obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemic.

HIGHEST AND LOWEST SUGAR CONTENT BY DRINK AND COUNTRY - RATED IN TEASPOONS
SOFT DRINK	COUNTRY WITH HIGHEST	TSP OF SUGAR	COUNTRY WITH LOWEST	TSP OF SUGAR	DIFFERENCE IN TSP
Sprite	Thailand	12	Austria/Poland	5	7
Schweppes Tonic Water	USA	11	Argentina	4	7
Fanta Orange	India/Vietnam	11	UK/Ireland/Argentina	6	5
Coca Cola	Canada	10	Thailand	8	1
Pepsi	Japan	10	UK/Greece/Serbia/Switzerland	9	1
7Up	Canada	10	USA	9	1
Dr Pepper	USA	9	Germany	6	3
* Some drinks have replaced sugar with stevia			Source: Action on Sugar

Favourite fizzy drinks, like Coca-Cola and Sprite, were found to have completely different levels of sugar, depending on where they were produced in the world

Nutritionist at Action on Sugar, Kawther Hashem, said people were 'drinking spoonfuls of sugar' in their carbonated drinks and recommended people check the labels before switching to a no added sugar variety of drink, or water.

She said: 'It is high time soft drinks manufacturers around the world stop adding unnecessary sugars and calories to their products and work universally to set sugar reduction targets once and for all.

'Our research has shown discrepancies between the sugar content in the same carbonated drinks sold across the world and this needs to stop.'

Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Queen Mary University, said: 'Overweight and obesity increases health-care costs and threatens the economic growth on which a country's future prosperity and wellbeing depend.

'This survey illustrates the fact that the soft drinks industry is part of the cause of the world's growing obesity pandemic and action must be taken now.'

Gavin Partington, director general of the British Soft Drinks Association, said UK manufacturers were 'leading the way' in cutting calories and reducing the sugar in their products.

He said: 'Through new product development, reformulation and increased availability of smaller pack sizes the soft drinks category has reduced sugar by more than 8 per cent in just 3 years.

'The majority of soft drinks now sold in the UK are low and no calorie including nearly half of all carbonated drinks.'