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We checked the labels on flavoured and vitamin waters so you don't have to — because some of these bottles are basically soft drinks in a spa costume. Starting safest: Radnor Hills Flavoured Spring Water, elderflower. No added sugar, nothing to count. That's a genuine zero, straight water with a whisper of flavour.
Highland Spring Sparkling with a Splash of Strawberry, a 330 millilitre can, carries around 6 to 7 grams of sugar — that's under two teaspoons. Still mostly water, with just enough fruit to notice.
Robinsons Fruit Shoot Orange, the lunchbox regular, has around 9 grams of sugar in its 200 millilitre bottle — just over two teaspoons. Small bottle, but the sugar's doing more work than the label colours suggest.
Volvic Touch of Fruit Strawberry, a 500 millilitre bottle, holds around 11 grams of sugar — close to three teaspoons. It's still mostly water, but that touch of fruit isn't sugar-free.
Aqua Libra Lightly Sparkling Elderflower and Mint, a 500 millilitre bottle, comes in around 15 grams of sugar — nearly four teaspoons. It reads like a herbal tonic; it drinks like a soft drink.
Glaceau Vitaminwater Essential, Orange-Orange, 500 millilitres, carries around 22 to 23 grams of sugar — over five and a half teaspoons. The vitamins are real. So is the sugar hiding behind them.
And the worst offender: Oasis Citrus Punch, 500 millilitres, at around 27 to 28 grams of sugar — nearly seven teaspoons. It sits on the same shelf as the waters, but this one's a full-strength soft drink.
Oasis Citrus Punch
Oasis Citrus Punch runs about seven teaspoons of sugar a bottle — that's a full soft drink, not a light refresher. Swap to Radnor Hills Flavoured Spring Water for the same fruity lift with none of the sugar. (answer generated by SugarCoach, the AI coach)
General lifestyle education, not medical advice — personal medical decisions belong with your GP or pharmacist.