DRINKS - NON ALCOHOLIC

There are five main categories of non alcoholic drinks: carbonated, fruit juices, diluted drinks , still and juice drinks, bottled waters and functional drinks such as sports and energy drinks.

Carbonated drinks

A carbonated drink is a man made drink, which may contain fruit or fruit juice. The taste can come from vegetable extracts or flavorings. This group also includes sparkling juices, colas, mixers, tonic and bitter drinks , shandy, and flavored waters. Carbonated drinkshave been in existence since the late eighteenth century

Fruit Juice

Fruit juices are made from the flesh of fresh fruit or concentrates and contain no preservatives or any other added ingredients. They consist of 100% pure fruit juice. There can either be made from concentrate or not. The difference is:

• Concentrate: the fruit has been picked, squeezed and concentrated (by evaporating the water naturally present in the juice) in the country of origin. The concentrated juice is then frozen and shipped to the country of use for packing. Fruit juice packers then reconstitute the juice restoring it to its original strength by adding the same amount of water to meet the internationally recognized standards.
• Not from concentrate: the fruit is squeezed in the country of origin and then lightly pasteurized and frozen or aseptically packed for shipment to the country where it will be sold.

Diluted, Still and Juice Drinks

Diluted drinks: includes squashes and cordials; they are sold in concentrate form and are typically mixed with four parts water to one part syrup.

Still drinks: soft drinksmade with varying quantities of different types of fruit juice. They are mixed with other ingredients such as sweeteners and preservatives.

Juice drinks: a range of drinks including high juice drinks with 25% to 99% juice, 5% to 24% juice drinks and lower juice concentrations often found in still flavored waters, sports drinks and iced teas.

Bottled Water

There are a number of different types of bottled waters.

• Natural mineral waters are one of the most popular types of bottled water. They must come from a protected source and by law may not undergo any treatment except filtration to remove sand particles or the addition of carbon dioxide to create a sparkling product. Therefore what goes into the bottle is the same as what comes out of the ground.
• Spring waters can come from a single non-polluted ground water source. Unlike natural mineral waters, spring waters may undergo permitted treatments in order to meet the microbiological criteria and to comply with standards based on the Drinking Water Regulations.
• Table water applies to bottled water which may come from more than one source and may include the public water supply.

Sports and Energy Drinks

There is a major difference between sports and energy drinks. Sports drinks are designed to meet particular sporting requirements, whilst energy drinks usually contain high caffeine levels to stimulate alertness.

There are 3 types of sports drinkshypotonic, isotonic or hypertonic and each have their own specific purpose.

• Hypotonic: are intended to quickly replace water lost during exercise. Rehydration is the major requirement during exercise as performance deteriorates rapidly with even low levels of dehydration. Minerals such as sodium and potassium are also frequently added to replace those lost through sweat. Hypotonic drinks have very low carbohydrate content.
• Isotonic: also quickly replace the fluid lost by sweating. However, unlike hypotonic drinks, isotonic drinkshave a very high level of carbohydrate to provide the body with an energy boost.
• Hypertonic: are designed to supplement the body's daily carbohydrate intake. They contain high levels of carbohydrate in order to provide maximum energy uptake.

Energy drinks are designed to increase mental and physical energy but are not primarily designed for use during sport or exercise. The term energy drink encompasses two types of drinks:

• Glucose based energy drinks(predominantly packed in PET bottles).
• Caffeine based stimulant energy drinks (usually packaged in cans).The caffeine in stimulant energy drinksis used to increase alertness. It is rapidly metabolized by the body within a few hours. Other typical active ingredients include taurine, glucuronolactone and inositol. Taurine is a non-essential amino acid (meaning it is produced naturally in the body), linked to cell membrane stability and to brain cell activity. It is also a component of bile acids which help fat metabolism.