Are Fizzy Drinks Low FODMAP

Are Fizzy Drinks Low FODMAP?

Fizzy drinks are everywhere. Whether you’re out for dinner, at a bar, in the supermarket or at someone else’s house. But knowing which fizzy drinks are low FODMAP and which must be avoided can be challenging. We’re hoping to make it a little clearer.

The Quick Answer

Fizzy drinks can be low FODMAP… It comes down to two things. First, where you’re buying your drink because different countries have different laws on the usage of sweeteners. Second, it comes down to what fizzing drink it is you’re drinking.

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Drinking Fizzy Drinks on a FODMAP Diet

We’ve gone through everything you could possibly need or want to know about drinking fizzing drinks when following a low FODMAP diet.

If you’re not sure whether a drink is low FODMAP or not then check out the section below titled ‘what to look for in fizzy drinks’. It’s a fairly straightforward list of ingredients that take a drink from being low FODMAP to high FODMAP.

What to Look for in Fizzy Drinks

There are a few obvious things you need to be careful to avoid when it comes to fizzy drinks. Yes, you’ll have to spend your time reading through ingredient lists. But when you find a fizzy drink that’s low FODMAP and that you like you know to stick with it. So what are the culprits to avoid:

Fructose or High-Fructose Corn Syrup: These are sweeteners that are used in full-fat fizzy drinks. They’re not common in all drinks but you’ll want to avoid any drinks using fructose.

Polyols: Now this is a large chunk of what makes something high FODMAP. When it comes to polyols, you’ll often find them in low-sugar or sugar-free alternatives. They will often come in the form of sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, and xylitol. Another that’s worth avoiding is isomalt. It’s pretty much every artificial sweetener ending in -ol.

The other major issue is that different countries have different ingredients for their branded fizzy drinks. Coca Cola in the United States will contain high-fructose corn syrup, for example, but that’s not the case in the United Kingdom where it is just sugar.

Popular Fizzy Drink Products

Although most fizzy drinks are made up of sugar and flavourings, trying to decipher which fizzy drinks are low FODMAP and which are not can be challenging. We’ve covered a few of the most popular drinks below:

Is Coca Cola Low FODMAP?

As discussed above, this comes down to where you buy it and whether you buy branded Coca Cola or unbranded, supermarket-own cokes. If we take Coca Cola then the ingredients are simple:

Carbonated Water, Sugar, Colour (Caramel E150d), Phosphoric Acid, Natural Flavourings including Caffeine.

Although caffeine can be an irritant for IBS sufferers there are no high FODMAP ingredients listed.

If, however, we look at Tesco’s own Coke then ingredients is a little longer:

Carbonated Water, Sugar, Glucose-Fructose Syrup, Barley Malt Extract, Fruit and Vegetable Concentrates [Apple, Hibiscus, Carrot, Molasses], Flavourings (including Caffeine), Phosphoric Acid, Preservative (Potassium Sorbate), Sweeteners (Sucralose, Acesulfame K)

As you can see, it contains apple (high FODMAP) as well as glucose-fructose syrup. That’s two similar fizzy drinks but only one is suitable if you’re on a low FODMAP diet. This just goes to show how challenging finding a fizzy drink is.

Is Diet Coca Cola Low FODMAP?

So what about diet drinks? Well, let’s stick with Coca Cola and focus on the diet version. Here is the ingredient list:

Carbonated Water, Colour (Caramel E150d), Sweeteners (Aspartame, Acesulfame K), Natural Flavourings including Caffeine, Phosphoric Acid, Citric Acid.

No -ol sweeteners in sight! Fortunately, aspartame is low FODMAP.

Is Diet Coke Low FODMAP

Is Fanta Low FODMAP?

Fanta is a challenging one as you need to be careful with the portion. Oranges are low FODMAP but when you have orange juice in a drink like Fanta you use a concentrated form of oranges.

This can, therefore, be a high quantity of oranges – sometimes too high which can cause them to be high FODMAP.

To be on the safe side, we would avoid Fanta when following a low FODMAP diet and find another drink that’s more suitable.

Is Ginger Ale Low FODMAP?

Ginger root is a low FODMAP food so you’ll be pleased to hear that ginger ale, in most cases, is also low FODMAP. You do need to be wary that some ginger ale is sweetened using those dodgy -ols.

Common Fizzy Drink FAQs

There are common questions that get asked when it comes to drinking fizzy drinks on a low FODMAP diet. These are some of the most popular:

Are Soda Stream Drinks Low FODMAP?

Perhaps you’ve gone down the route of making your own drinks using a Soda Stream? The question, of course, is are Sofa Stream drinks low FODMAP?

The problem is that this is not a simple question to answer because Soda Stream drinks can be made with syrups, cordials and squashes.

Ultimately, it’s going to be a case of checking the packaging and ingredients to determine whether the cordial you want to use contains any of the culprits listed above.

Is Caffeine Low FODMAP?

This is a confusing one. A lot of people who follow a low FODMAP diet do so because they suffer from IBS. Caffeine is low FODMAP but it can also be a trigger food that irritates the gut of anyone suffering from IBS.

Caffeine is one that needs to be experimented with on a person-by-person basis. Try to slowly introduce it into your diet and see how your body reacts.

Quick Summary

You’ll probably agree that trying to find a low FODMAP fizzy drink is not going to be the easiest challenge. However, when you do find one you like, take a note of it so you know you’re safe to buy it long into the future.

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