Just one cider can tip you over the sugar limit

A study carried out by experts has found that many alcoholic drinks contain significant amounts of sugar .

A single pint of cider contained almost as much sugar as the World Health Organisation recommends should be an average person's daily limit. A tin of gin and tonic contains about half that.

This month, the WHO said a person's daily intake of added sugar should be halved to six teaspoons to help avoid growing health problems, including obesity and tooth decay.

Publishing her annual report as Britain's chief medical officer last week, Dame Sally Davies warned manufacturers to "ramp up" attempts to reduce the amount of added sugar in food and drink - saying a "sugar tax" might be needed.

An analysis of sugar levels in cider, sherry and spirits found that some drinks contained as many as five teaspoons of sugar in a single serving. Wines and beers contained significantly smaller quantities.

Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist and science director of Action on Sugar, a campaign group, said: "The amount of sugar in some of these alcoholic drinks is really quite astonishing.''

Unlike with packaged food products and soft drinks, manufacturers are not required to include information about the ingredients of most alcoholic drinks on labels.

The drink with the highest concentration of sugar was Baileys Irish Cream, which was found to contain 19.5g of the ingredient - about five teaspoons - per 100ml.