The coffee shop order that can see you down 39 teaspoons of sugar

Customers at major high street coffee shops could exceed an adult's daily limit of sugar in just one sitting, according to a survey.

Action on Sugar found a toffee apple crumble thick shake and a salted caramel fudge cake at Coffee Republic contained 39 teaspoons of sugar or 157g when consumed together, according to the charity's study to mark Sugar Awareness Week.

Just one item surveyed, a Greggs all-butter croissant, was found to be low in sugar. Health guidelines recommend adults do not consume more than 30g of 'free' sugars daily, which are those not 'locked in' to food such as fruit and milk.

The charity is calling for greater transparency over a "scandalous" lack of nutrition information available at the point of purchase, noting that more than one in two young adults aged 25 to 34 are overweight or obese while one in three is suffering from untreated tooth decay in the UK.

Businesses with 250 or more employees in England, including cafes, restaurants and takeaways, are required to display the calorie information of non-prepacked food and soft drinks prepared for customers as part of the Government’s drive to tackle obesity.

But Action on Sugar said details about the sugar content of products were often limited. Overall, the study found that 782 sweet food and drink products surveyed in nine leading high street coffee shops were often "insufficiently labelled" for consumers.

More than half would have been marked ‘red’ – or high in total sugars – if nutrition information was fully transparent, Action on Sugar said.

Two cups of coffee on a wooden table, the girl holds in her hand one cup of coffee in the background. A photo indicates a meeting of people and a joint pastime — The sugar content of dishes at high street coffee chains have been revealed (Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)

At Soho Coffee Co, a billionaire's hot chocolate and a sticky toffee muffin contained 33 teaspoons of sugar or 133g, as did a strawberry and banana smoothie and a pain au raisin at Puccino's.

Despite the high sugar content found in the products, the difference in the amount of sugar in similar products can vary widely, which illustrates the food and drink industry's ability to reduce sugar if incentivised.

Action on Sugar is also calling for the UK Government to introduce new levies to encourage healthier food and drink choices and encourage firms to reformulate their products.

It has suggested that this could include extending the current soft drinks industry levy to all juice and milk-based drinks, and introducing levies targeting the high sugar content in sweet foods.

Zoe Davies, nutritionist at Action on Sugar, said: “It’s incredible how easy it is to unknowingly consume 39 teaspoons of sugar and over 1,300 calories with a simple drink and cake purchase – all of which is highly unnecessary to taste great.

“What’s more, it’s unacceptable that consumers are often left in the dark as product information about sugar content is not displayed at the point of sale and online PDF documents are unavailable or difficult to find and understand. This is why clearer labelling should be a must, so people know exactly what they are buying.”