Did you know that Vimto’s marketing emphasises the raspberry content, despite it only representing 0.1% of the drink’s ingredients – equivalent to 10 drops in a 500ml bottle?!
Fruit drinks aimed at children often contain as little as 5% fruit juice and in some cases none at all. Many are loaded with added sugar or artificial sweeteners. A report “Soft Drinks, Hard Sell” researched and written by Clare Panjwani of The Children’s Food Campaign shows much misleading marketing of soft drinks.
It found Ribena promotes its vitamin C content without making clear that 90% of the vitamin content is artificially added because it contains such a small amount of fruit juice.
Fruit Shoot Hydro doesn’t contain any fruit at all. Still Vimto & Ribena have only 5% fruit and contain more added sugar than fruit.
Clare called for better regulation and labelling so parents can tell more easily what is in the products they are buying. “Our survey found some truly misleading marketing, blatantly used to drive sales and increase children’s soft drink consumption, which contributes to tooth decay and the UK’s record rates of childhood obesity.”
Watch your labels. If using fruit juices, always buy pure fruit juice and dilute with water by at least 50%. Avoid anything with the word ‘drink’ on it which is your clue that it is not real juice.
Source: Daily Mail 29.8.11 “CHILDREN’S FRUIT DRINKS WITH ONLY 5% FRUIT” by Jenny Hope, Medical Correspondent.