Introduction:

Argentina is one of the countries with the highest consumption of sugary drinks in the world. The high consumption of these drinks is associated with the development of overweight, obesity and other cardio-metabolic risk factors, effects attributed to their high fructose content. The objectives of this work were: to validate a specific, accessible and inexpensive method for the determination of fructose and glucose in sugary drinks, to evaluate their content in soft drinks marketed in Argentina and to compare the results obtained with the declarations of the nutritional labels.

Material and Methods:

A commercial enzymatic-colorimetric method developed for use in the food industry was selected. The method was validated for the first time for the determination of fructose and glucose in sugary drinks, by determining bias, recovery, repeatability, and internal reproducibility. The fructose and glucose content was evaluated in thirty sugary drinks. The results obtained were contrasted with the information on the nutritional label.

Results:

All the parameters obtained in the validation protocol indicate that the method is suitable for use in the determination of fructose and glucose in sugary drinks. Fructose content ranged between 2.2g and 14.3g per serving, while glucose content ranged between 1.7g and 10.5g per serving. In 83% of the beverages tested, high fructose corn syrup was the only sweetener used in the formulation. In 75% of the drinks sweetened exclusively with high fructose corn syrup, a higher fructose:glucose ratio was found than expected for the use of high fructose-55 corn syrup.

Conclusions:

The enzymatic-colorimetric method is suitable for the determination of fructose and glucose in sugary drinks. It has the advantage of being specific, economical and of not requiring sophisticated equipment.

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