UK soft drinks contain more sugar than other countries

UK versions of popular soft drinks contain more sugar than the same product in other countries, campaigners have warned.

Coca-Cola in Thailand contained 3g less free sugars than in the UK - the equivalent of more than half a teaspoon in a can, a study by charity Action on Sugar (AoS) found.

Sprite in Austria and Poland also contained less sugar than the UK version, as does 7Up in the US, and Dr Pepper in Germany.

AoS said companies should set global sugar reduction targets to stop a worldwide obesity epidemic set to reach 1.12 billion people by 2030, AoS says.

Brands could be easily reformulated in the same way as the salt reduction programme, the charity said.

The survey, which reviewed 274 sugar-sweetened soft drinks produced across the world, also found that 88% of the products contained more than the entire recommended daily amount of sugar.

Every single product would receive a "high" red colour-coded label if it were consumed in a standard 330ml can, it found.

Sprite in Thailand contains the highest amount of free sugars - 12 teaspoons of sugar in a single can.

The greatest variation between countries was in Schweppes Tonic Water, which ranged between 45g per 330ml can in the US and 16g in Argentina.