“Zero sugar” and “diet” drinks are every health conscious person’s favourite thing now. Walk down any supermarket aisle and these drinks are everywhere, marketed as the safe swap for anyone watching their weight, blood sugar or liver health. But the label is doing a lot of the talking, and not all of what it implies is backed by evidence.
We spoke to an endocrinologist and a gastroenterologist about what "sugar-free" actually means on a nutrition label, and what's really in these drinks once the sugar is taken out.
“'Sugar-free' doesn't mean 'sweetener-free’”Dr. A.K. Jhingan
"Sugar-free drinks can genuinely contain essentially no sugar, but that doesn't necessarily mean they are nutritionally equivalent to water or automatically healthy," says Dr. A.K. Jhingan, Principal Director, Centre for Diabetes, Thyroid & Endocrinology, BLK-Max Hospital, Delhi.
For soda specifically, sugar is usually zero gram or a negligible amount, he explains, with non-sugar sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame-K, or stevia used instead. Calories are usually very low, often 0 to 5 kcal per serving, because the sweeteners are extremely potent and used in tiny quantities, Dr. Jhingan says.
These sweeteners are hundreds, sometimes thousands, of times sweeter than regular sugar. So a brand only needs a tiny amount to make a drink taste just as sweet, sometimes sweeter, than the sugary version. That is how a can can taste like a treat while carrying almost no calories.
However, he points out that sodium can still be present, sometimes in meaningful amounts, depending on the drink. "Cola and other soft drinks can contain phosphoric acid or citric acid, which contribute essentially no calories but make the drink acidic," Dr. Jhingan adds.
A sugar-free soda can also contain just as much caffeine as its regular version, he says. "'Sugar-free' doesn't mean 'sweetener-free,'" Dr. Jhingan clarifies. "The sweetness generally comes from artificial or plant-derived non-sugar sweeteners," he explains.
"Removing sugar and calories doesn't make a drink nutritious," Dr. Vishal Khurana, Principal Director & HOD, Gastroenterology & Hepatobiliary Sciences, Metro Hospital, Faridabad, cautions. "'Sugar-free' means sugar was taken out, not that the drink became healthy," he adds.
"The more interesting question is whether replacing regular soda with zero-sugar soda is actually better for you, because that's where things get more nuanced: sweeteners, dental health, appetite, metabolic effects, caffeine, acidity, and overall diet all come into play," Dr. Jhingan says. "Sugar free is not calorie free," he adds.
It is also worth remembering that "diet," "zero sugar" and "sugar-free" are not always the same thing. Brands use these words a little differently depending on the product, but in general, all three mean the sugar has been swapped out for an artificial or natural sweetener, not that nothing else has been added. Reading the full ingredients list, not just the front label, is usually the only way to know exactly what you are drinking.
In a nutshell
Sugar-free drinks genuinely contain little to no sugar, but that is largely where the "healthy" part of the label stops. Sodium, caffeine, acids and artificial sweeteners can all still be present, meaning a "sugar-free" tag reflects one ingredient taken out, not a drink that has been made good for you.
The next time you pick one up, it is worth treating it the way you would any other packaged drink. Check the label instead of just trusting the name on the can.