- Boost Juice drinks are the healthiest “on-the-go” drinks… according to researchers paid $30,000 by Boost Juice.
- Unsurprisingly, the study revealed that Boost fruit smoothies were more nutritious than drinks like Coke or Red Bull.
- In January, research by the Cancer Council and Heart Foundation found Boost Juice drinks are actually pumped with sugar (up to 22 TEASPOONS!).
Earlier this week, a PR group sent us a study that compared Boost Juice favourably to a variety of different beverages.
Given our previous coverage of the amount of sugar Boost drinks contain, we were a little sceptical. And it looks like we had good reason to be…
Using a scoring system that report’s authors admitted “is prone to substantial error”, the study of 21 drinks put Boost at the top. Which is most likely because the drinks they compared included Coca-Cola, Red Bull and a McDonald’s Chocolate Shake.
Admittedly none of these drinks are healthy either – and we’d recommend a green smoothie over them any day. But Boost was very selective about the drinks it chose to compare – omitting many of its higher-sugar varieties, which include sorbet and up to 22 teaspoons of sugar.
Even the authors of the report concluded that the study was limited by its “biased method […] variation in portion size between drinks […] assumptions made about ingredients in non-Boost products.”
You can find out more in ABC’s hilarious Media Watch broadcast on the subject. But while we can all have a good chuckle, after reporting on the long-term effect of the sugar industry paying scientists to blame fat in the fight against heart disease, it’s important to remember the damage that sponsored science can do.
Oh, what will the food and beverage industry try next?
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