The aim of research was to evaluate what proportion of non-alcoholic beverages contains sweeteners and whether the proportion of these beverages is increasing. Non-alcoholic beverages in our sample represented all selected beverages that were available at the time of sampling in the stores of five largest retailers in Slovenia. The study included 1043 non-alcoholic beverages from 2017 and 1221 non-alcoholic beverages from 2019. We found out that sweeteners were present in 13,2 % of beverages in 2017 and 15,5 % of beverages in 2019. The percentage of non-alcoholic beverages with sweeteners slightly increased between the years, but the difference is not statistically significant. The use of sweeteners increased the most in energy drinks. The most commonly used sweeteners in 2017 were acesulfame K, aspartame and cyclamates. In 2019 the use of sucralose increased significantly, which became second most used sweetener that year. Beverages with added sweeteners in most cases contained sweeteners blends. Only sucralose and steviol glycosides were used alone. Due to the increased use of sucralose in 2019, the percentage of beverages with only one sweetener also increased that year. We also researched the energy value and sugar content of beverages, in connection with the use of sweeteners. The results showed an almost half reduction in the energy value of beverages when sugars were only partially replaced with sweeteners. In beverages sweetened only with sweetener the difference was, of course, even more noticeable. A comparison with other countries showed that the offer of non-alcoholic beverages on the Slovenian market is quite comparable to foreign markets, but we observed a slightly lower representation of beverages with added sweeteners. The current offer of non-alcoholic beverages in Slovenia and initiatives for the reduction of sugars indicate, that there is still room for new products with added sweeteners. It is also important to raise public awareness on the consumption of sugary drinks and not just replacing sugar with sweeteners.
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