If you love super sweet drinks, chances are you enjoy soft drinks and cordial.
Soft drinks, also known as soda, are carbonated, sweet, and sometimes caffeinated drinks and beverages that give you a kick of energy from the sugar (and caffeine) they deliver to your bloodstream.
Cordial, or squash, are concentrated sugary fruit syrups that are meant to be mixed with something else, like a Glass of Water, and enjoyed that way.
What’s Worse for you to drink – Cordial or Soft Drinks?
There are health risks to drinking any sugary beverage, but cordial is generally better for you than soft drinks or caffeinated sports drinks.
There are health considerations with both types of beverages, though, and it’s difficult to label one as definitively worse than the other.
Read on to learn more about cordial and the different types of soft drinks and how they affect you.
What are some Cordial Drink Brands?
Cordial drinks are sweet, fruit-flavored concentrates that can be mixed with water or other beverages to make refreshing and tasty drinks. These drinks have been popular for centuries, zero sugar cordials and are available in a wide range of flavors, from traditional fruit flavors like lemon, lime, and raspberry to more exotic options like elderflower and rose.
Some of the most popular cordial drink brands include Robinsons, Ribena, Belvoir Fruit Farms, and Monin. Robinsons is a British brand that has been producing cordial drinks since 1823. Their range of cordial drinks includes classic flavors like orange and blackcurrant as well as newer options like apple and elderflower.
Ribena is another British brand that is well-known for its blackcurrant cordial drink. It was first introduced in 1938 and is now available in several other fruit flavors, including raspberry and blueberry.
Belvoir Fruit Farms is a family-owned brand that produces a range of cordial drinks made from natural ingredients. Their flavors include elderflower, ginger, and rhubarb, among others.
Monin is a French brand that specializes in producing syrup and cordial drinks for cocktails and mocktails. Their cordial drink flavors include passionfruit, pomegranate, and peach.
Overall, cordial drinks offer a refreshing and delicious alternative to plain water or soda, and there are many brands and flavors to choose from to suit different tastes and preferences.
Cordial Drink vs. Soft Drink
At face value, cordial has less sugar all around than soft drinks or Energy Drinks and it can also be diluted more to deliver less sugar per serving if you wish.
Look carefully, though: that doesn’t mean you can drink as much cordial as you want with no negative side effects.
Because there are so many types of cordial and soft drinks, there is no standard of nutrition facts for either of them.
However, the average sugar content is high in both of these Energy Drinks or beverages, even if the sugar comes from different sources.
In soft drinks, and also Sports Drinks sugar can either be added directly to the formula or, as is popular in the US, high-fructose corn syrup can be used to sweeten the soda.
Corn syrup is cheaper than sugar because it’s made in the US, so it doesn’t need to be imported as the US grows a lot of corn.
The fructose in corn syrup is also sweeter than the glucose found in sugar which causes an increase in blood sugar levels and tooth decay.
But there is a lot of evidence that high-fructose corn syrup is much worse for your health than real sugar.
Cordial is made from fruit juice, and it can often have 30-50% fruit juice (orange juice or lime juice). On the surface, this already seems much healthier than a typical soft drink, which rarely has real fruit juice.
Fruit juice is naturally high in sugar, though. And a majority of cordials have additional sugar listed as their first ingredient.
In 250 ml (one cup) of cordial, there are about 5.5 teaspoons of sugar.
In the average soft drink or sports drink for that matter, there are around 7 teaspoons of sugar per 250 ml. In an 8-ounce can of soda, that’s a lot of sugar.
But 8 ounces of cordial also contain a lot of sugar.
Sugary soda causes a temporary energy high and is then followed by a crash as your blood sugar levels drop quickly.
High sugar consumption can also cause weight gain and all the negative health effects associated with that, such as heart problems blood pressure, and blockages in your arteries.
Your body may also lose its ability to properly process sugar when you have it, and you could develop diabetes.
That’s why it’s important to monitor your sugar intake and try to avoid consuming large quantities of it.
Are Diet Cordial Drinks Better Or Healthier For You?
Diet drinks and Refreshing Drinks can have many health advantages, such as fewer or no calories, lower sugar content, etc.
While these options can be good alternatives in the moment, consistent and abundant consumption of artificial ingredients in diet beverages can have some negative health effects.
Diet Drink, diet cola cordial, sugar-free drinks or low-juice cordials have less or no sugar added, with very little sugar content from the 5-10% juice they contain, and are typically seen as Healthier Drinks
However, they typically contain artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and coloring to make up for their lack of “real” ingredients, like fruit juice and sugar.
The makers of diet soft drinks often use additional additives like aspartame to sweeten without using sugar or adding calories.
Because it is about 200 times sweeter than sugar, you can use much less aspartame in a soft drink to achieve the same level of sweetness as sugar, meaning the aspartame in diet sodas has almost no calories.
While this may seem great for keeping a healthier diet, there is evidence that regular intake of aspartame may increase your risk of diabetes, stroke, and heart disease—like sugar.
You also need to be very mindful of Caffeine Levels in these drinks and especially so for pregnant women.
Artificial sweeteners may also change your appetite, leading you to eat more food than you would have if you’d enjoyed a drink with real sugar instead.
What Is The Best And Healthy Cordial To Drink?
low sugar cordial
Your best bet when choosing a cordial is to go for one with no sugar added and heavily dilute it.
This lowers the amount of cordial you consume and will help keep you from experiencing the negative effects of high-sugar and high-artificial sweetener consumption.
There are lots of brands and options out there with low juice content and no added sugar.
You can also look for sweet syrups that use organic ingredients, which are always healthier than artificial ones.
There’s even a fructose-free sugar alternative, called brown rice syrup, which can sweeten without the health risks of sugar or fructose.
With the right cordial, you may just need a little in your drinking water, carbonated water, or tonic water to go a long way and create a delicious, healthier alternative to soft drinks.
What is the healthiest soft drink?
If you really love your soft drinks, you can try sodas with no sugar.
As mentioned above, these drinks are sweetened artificially, so they won’t cause a spike in your blood sugar levels the way a regular soda with sugar or high-fructose corn syrup will.
The term “soft drink” can also apply to carbonated drinks other than soda.
A truly healthy fizzy-drink alternative is seltzer or flavored carbonated water.
Just FYI it doesn’t beat drinking water on its own though we’re here to talk about flavoring waters – so let’s get back to it.
These drinks almost never have any calories or sugar content, and many of them are flavored using all-natural ingredients.
Always check the List Of ingredients on any store-bought drink to make sure you understand what you’re consuming.
They provide a great way to satisfy your fizzy drink craving without all the junk found in soda.
Does Cordial Hydrate You like Water?
While it’s technically true that drinking a lot of cordials with physically hydrate you as much as the same amount of plain water, there are dehydrating elements to any drink that contains sugar.
Sugar prevents your body from being able to absorb the water it needs, keeping you from being truly hydrated.
High-sugar drinks can also lower the volume of fluid retained by your body, further dehydrating you.
Sugary drinks also raise your blood sugar, and consuming a lot of them raises your blood sugar to the point where your body needs to get rid of excess sugar.
This causes you to urinate more, which is another obvious way to become dehydrated.
On top of that, drinks with sugar and artificial sweeteners have so many known negative health effects that it’s not a good idea to entirely replace water with anything else, even diluted cordial.
Is Cordial Better Than Soft Drink?
While cordial, alcoholic drinks and soft drinks both have downsides when it comes to how they affect your health, cordial is generally better as far as sugar content goes.
If you are looking for a low-calorie and low-sugar alternative, trying diet soft drinks or cordials with no sugar added can be a good alternative once in a while.
No beverage or energy boost drink is a perfect alternative to good old drinking water.
That said however if you are looking for a fizzy drink with the lowest health risks and the powers of hydration carbonated water or Carbonated beverages may be the best alternative to both cordials and soft drinks.
I’m the owner and blogger here at SodaPopCraft.Com. I’m a soft drinks enthusiast, bringing you all I know and research from the world of Beverages, Soda Pop, Soft Drinks, and many more.
I hope it inspires you to make Healthier, and Creative Drinks at Home.
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