Clever marketing hiding popular slushies’ unhealthy secret, experts say

Some slushies are being served with 49 teaspoons of sugar and experts fear clever marketing is distracting people from the unhealthiness of these drinks.

Many of the most popular slushies contain more than eight day’s worth of recommended added sugar intake, with up to 49 teaspoons of sugar per serve.

The new Victorian analysis found fast food chains and convenience stores are using incentives like add-ons, cheap deals and heavy marketing to entice young people to buy the sugar-packed frozen drinks.

The Rethink Sugary Drink Alliance survey revealed that 7-Eleven boasted the four highest sugar flavours.

Their Sour Orange Mega drink came with the biggest sugar hit – up to 49 teaspoons for the largest serve – which included more than eight times the daily added sugar intake recommendations.

The Creamy Soda Mega followed with 37 teaspoons, Sour Lime Mega with 35 and Mystery Purple Mega with 21 teaspoons.

Hungry Jack’s Frozen Fanta Sour Watermelon Spider Large was that store’s most sugary drink with 18 teaspoons of sugar, while KFC’s Mountain Dew Freeze contained the most for that brand with 13 teaspoons.

McDonald’s large Frozen Coke had the least amount of sugar from the drinks surveyed, with 11 teaspoons – but still almost two day’s worth of recommended added sugar.

Director of Prevention at Cancer Council Victoria, Craig Sinclair said brands used clever marketing to distract young people from the unhealthiness of these drinks.

The Rethink Sugary Drink Alliance survey revealed that 7-Eleven boasted the four highest sugar flavours.

“During summer, young people are being bombarded with these incredibly cheap deals, creative new flavours, competitions and social media challenges and of course it makes it hard to resist,” Mr Sinclair said.

“The World Health Organization recommends no more than six teaspoons of added sugar a day for optimal health for adults, some of these mega drinks have eight times that.

“It’s easy to slurp down one of these drinks in a couple of minutes without realising you’ve just consumed over a weeks’ worth of recommended sugar intake, particularly for children.”

Australian Dental Association’s oral health promoter, Mikaela Chinotti said hidden sugar was not the only nasty hiding in slushies.

“They also contain high levels of acid, which can dissolve the outer surface of tooth enamel and lead to further tooth erosion and cavities,” Dr Chinotti said.

“Half of Australian children and one in three young men have experienced tooth decay, something that is becoming far too common.

“If we could get young Australians to cut back on these extremely sugary drinks or stop drinking them entirely, we’d start to see much healthier teeth.”