Survey of the current status of beverages sold from vending machines in subway stations in the Seoul metropolitan area, and their sugar content

Abstract

Looking at the current status of beverages sold from vending machines in subway stations in Seoul, it was found that carbonated beverages accounted for the highest percentage of beverages on sale in vending machines, representing 36 % of all beverages sold. Survey respondents purchased carbonated drinks or sports drinks containing high levels of sugar to quench their thirst. Investigation of the sugar content of beverages frequently sold in vending machines showed that a serving of carbonated beverage contained an average of 30.4 g of sugar, or as much as 50.1 g of sugar (equivalent 10 to 17 cubes; 1 cube = 3 g of sugar). This amount corresponded, on average, with 60 % of the WHO recommended daily sugar intake (50 g). Surprisingly, with certain carbonated beverages, drinking a single can is equivalent to consuming the total recommended daily sugar intake of 50 g. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/ by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.