Blackcurrant Syrups, Cordials and Squashes – Are They Good or Bad For You?

If you like to enjoy a delicious refreshing glass of diluted blackcurrant cordial from time to time – perhaps with some ice and a crushed mint leaf or two – then you will have come across the various health claims made on behalf of blackcurrants. These usually include the fruit’s unusually high level of Vitamin C (at over 300 per cent of the RDA per one hundred and twelve grams, according to the nutritiondata website.)

But whatever the nutritional content and benefits of the pure unadulterated blackcurrant fruit, do highly processed syrups, cordials and squashes made from it share in those benefits? (To take just one example, fibre content: one assumes that the high fibre content of the fruit – at nearly five grams per one hundred grams – is not shared by a blackcurrant drink made from it.)[1]

Blackcurrants in their raw natural state are a rather tart, even sharp fruit. They are not designed by nature to be highly sugary. However we all know that children adore highly sweetened drinks, and this applies to many commercially available blackcurrant squashes and cordials. The Good Teeth Guide by J. Forrest, published in 1981, describes many blackcurrant squashes and cordials as being ‘loaded with sugar’.[2] However since then, many low-sugar, sugar-free and ‘tooth-kind’ versions of blackcurrant squashes and cordials have been developed and gone on sale. Are these better for our children? At least one study[3] has found that a toothkind drink did less damage to tooth enamel than a ‘regular’ squash, although more than plain water.

Are blackcurrant drinks such as squashes and cordials at least a rich source of vitamin C for growing bodies? It’s better not to simply assume and rely on this: one study carried out by schoolchildren in the early 2000s found surprisingly little Vitamin C contained in one of the leading brands of blackcurrant squash. Its misleading advertising could have led to unfounded expectations of nutrient content on the part of consumers.[4]  If you’re not sure just how nutritious the black currant drink you’re giving your kids is, then do your homework and find out! (Or you could always give them water, milk and fresh fruit instead, just to be on the safe side.)

Of course Vitamin C is not the only useful nutrient contained by blackcurrants. There is much current research regarding their antioxidant content. Most blackcurrant antioxidants are of the anthocyanin class, and share in other antioxidants’ capacity to impact on the damage caused by charged free radical molecules in the body. Bearing in mind the Vitamin C issue, it’s interesting to speculate just how much of the antioxidant content of fresh blackcurrants is retained in a highly processed blackcurrant product such as a squash or cordial.

Are sugar-containing or ‘toothkind’ blackcurrant drinks a suitable beverage for your kids? The choice is yours.

References.
1  Hanas, R. 'Type 1 diabetes in children, adolescents, and young adults.' London. Class Publishing: 2007.
2.  Forrest, J.  "The good teeth guide."  London: HarperCollins, 1981.
3. Regester, M., Larkin, J.  "Risk Issues and Crisis Management in Public Relations: A Casebook of Best Practice." London: Kogan Page Ltd., 2008, p.68.
4.  Finke, M., Jandt, K.D., Parker, D.M.  "The Early Stages of Native Enamel Dissolution Studied with Atomic Force Microscopy." Journal of Colloid and Interface Science.  232:1, 1/12/2000, pp. 156-164


Picture credit: mwri
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