New research from the Natural Source Waters Association (NSWA) reveals widespread uncertainty among UK consumers about what constitutes a healthy drink, highlighting a gap in public understanding the organisation says must be addressed.
The research found more than one in six (17.5%) 25-34-year-olds surveyed believe energy drinks to be a “healthy” choice, at a times when new cases of obesity are rising fastest among young adults[i].
The findings also highlight rising public concern about the lack of guidance on hydration, with almost two-thirds (64%) of people surveyed believe that the Government should be doing more to promote healthy hydration.
Worryingly, the survey found that more than 40% of 18-34-year-olds believe that as long as they eat healthily, it doesn’t matter what they drink – a belief the NSWA says demonstrates the public’s poor public understanding of the issue and underlines the need for greater government action.
To help close this gap, NSWA has published a new Health Manifesto, calling for hydration to be given far greater recognition within public health policy. The manifesto includes proposals to strengthen public messaging on hydration, encourage healthier drink choices and support improved public awareness around healthy hydration.
It includes an ask for the upcoming National Food Strategy to be renamed the “National Food and Drink Strategy”, to recognise the role drinks play in the nation’s health system.
Other key findings include:
- 29% of people rarely or never check the sugar or calorie content of what they drink
- 28% of 25-34-year-olds have at least one energy drink a day, and 29% have at least one full-sugar soft drink a day
- More than one in ten 18-24-year-olds (12%), and 14% of 25-44-year-olds, drink no plain water at all
James Withers, Chair of the NSWA, said:
“These findings should serve as a wake-up call. When nearly one in five young adults consider an energy drink to be a healthy choice, it’s clear that simple health messages, including water being the healthiest hydration choice, are just not getting through. Meanwhile, a creaking NHS is spending over £11 billion a year to combat obesity. Public confusion on this scale doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it’s the result of a lack of clear, consistent guidance on healthy hydration at a national level. It is something the Government has a responsibility to address if the nation’s poor health is going to improve.”
Johanna Hignett, Director and Consultant Nutritionist at Nourish Consulting Ltd, said:
“What we’re seeing here is a kind of health halo effect, where drinks associated with energy or performance get mentally filed as ‘healthy’ simply because they don’t look like an obvious sugary soft drink. In reality, all you need to hydrate most of the time is water and many energy drinks are high in sugar and caffeine. Frequent consumption, particularly among younger adults drinking them daily, can have a real impact on long-term health. Hydration is too often treated as an afterthought in conversations about diet, but what we drink is as important to our health as what we eat, and that message needs to be communicated far more clearly.”
Kinvara Carey, General Manager of the NSWA added:
“Two-thirds of the public are telling us the Government should be doing more on this, and yet more than four in ten 18-34-year-olds still believe their drink choices don’t matter as long as they’re eating well. That gap is the clearest possible sign that current Government messaging on healthy hydration isn’t getting through. We need to see that appetite for change matched with real commitment, starting with formally recognising drinks within the National Food Strategy, not treating them as an afterthought.”
NSWA’s Health Manifesto is available now, and the Association is calling on policymakers, retailers and industry to work together to close the UK’s hydration gap.
[i] [i] BBC News, Obesity cases rising fastest in young adults