Hitting The Sweet Spot
How Capri-Sun uses sugar and sugar substitutes to create the taste you love

Types of sugar
The basic table sugar that always springs to mind is actually called sucrose. It is made up of glucose and fructose and can be found in sugar beets, sugarcane and other plants.
In all plants some type of sugar is always formed as a by-product of photosynthesis.
Here are some of the types of sugar found in nature:
- Fructose (found in fruits and honey)
- Galactose (found in milk and dairy products)
- Glucose (found in honey, fruits and vegetables)
- Lactose (found in milk and made up of glucose and galactose)
- Maltose (found in barley)
- Sucrose (found in plants and made up of glucose and fructose)
Sugar: the natural way to sweeten drinks
Here's the bottom line about all the different types of sugar: they are all natural energy suppliers, great flavour enhancers and powerful natural preservatives. As we've seen, sugar occurs naturally in many foods and drinks. For instance, our Original Capri-Sun actually contains less sugar than an average real fruit juice.
Some of the benefits that sugar offers, whether it is added to a drink or occur naturally in the drink's ingredients, include:
- A sugary drink is an energy supplier and offers excellent rehydration after a good run around.
- Sugar can be used to enhance flavours naturally.
- Sugar acts as a natural preservative.
Yet, we all know about sugar’s big drawback. It’s packed with calories. And, if we consume too much sugar and these calories are not burnt off through exercise, they can turn to fat.
How long does it take to burn off that juice? Click here.

Capri-Sun and sugar alternatives
Part of this journey has been to introduce sweeteners, instead of sugar, as an option in the ingredient list of our drinks.
- While all types of sugar contain four calories per gram, many sweeteners contain only trace amounts of calories.
- Even sweeteners that are caloric (i.e. contain calories) offer an alternative to sugar: with a sweetening power 3,000 times greater than sugar, they can be used in very small quantities.

Capri-Sun Fact: Sweeteners offer a sweetening power 3,000 times greater than sugar.
But what is a sweetener?
- Stevia (or Steviol): This natural source of sweetness is found in the leaves of the plant species stevia rebaudiana, native to Brazil and Paraguay. It contains no calories.
- Acesulfame-K and Sucralose: These artificial sweeteners are among the longest used and most-tested sugar substitutes available. Both contain no calories.

Capri-Sun Fact: Capri-Sun managed to reduce sugar content from 10 g per 100 ml to 4.9 g by using the natural sugar substitute Stevia.
- Original Capri-Sun fruit juice drinks contain less sugar than your average fruit juice.
- Capri-Sun No Added Sugar fruit juice drinks contain only natural sugars from its fruit juice that is enhanced by the artificial sweeteners acesulfame-K and sucralose.
- Capri-Sun Fruit Crush fruit juice drinks contain nothing but the natural sugars in fruit juice.
- Capri-Sun Fruity Water fruit juice drinks contain only natural sugars from its fruit juice that is enhanced by stevia, a natural source of sweetness.
The choice is yours.