While soft drinks are increasingly under fire for their sugar content, particularly with calls for taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages gaining traction, Euromonitor’s study compares the calorie contribution from such beverages with alcoholic drinks.
Euromonitor looked at calorie consumption from soft drinks and alcohol in 24 countries (excluding the US). Energy obtained from alcohol in countries including Germany, New Zealand, Japan, China and the UK exceeds that of calories from soft drinks.
South Korea consumes 167.9 calories per capita per day from alcoholic drinks, compared to 44.2 calories from soft drinks.
Sara Petersson, nutrition analyst, Euromonitor, said that while the focus on calorie reduction has been put mainly on soft drinks to date, alcoholic drinks “are not far off in terms of the energy they provide, and even overtake soft drinks in some instances.”
This means that more research needs to be done to make any regulations sensible and effective, she added.
The average daily consumption of calories worldwide is 1,398 calories. Euromonitor says the lowest calorie consumption is in India (761 calories per capita per day) while the highest is in Belgium (2,559 calories per capita per day).