How to Test Amount of Sugar in Canned Drink

The sugar added to canned drinks might directly impact your blood sugar. Diabetics and people with sugar intolerance might need to accurately test for the amount of sugar in their canned drinks. Simply because a canned drink label says it is "diet" does not mean it contains no sugar, which sometimes goes by the aliases "fructose," "sucrose" or even "corn syrup" on the nutritional label -- in the end, it is still sugar. Once perfected, this method can also be used to check the sugar content of fountain drinks.

Test the sugar content yourself. (Image: Saaster/iStock/Getty Images)

Step 1

Obtain urine sugar testing strips from your doctor or at the pharmacy. These are available without a medical prescription. Open the package and read over the manufacturer's instructions -- substitute your canned drink wherever the instructions mention "urine" and completely skip the clean-catch instructions.

Step 2

Pour a small amount of the canned drink into a small glass or dish. Make sure you pour out enough that the entire colored part of the test strip can be submerged in drink. Do not insert the strip directly into the can if you intend on drinking the canned beverage.

Step 3

Dip one test strip into the liquid, completely covering the colors on the strip. Keep the strip submerged according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Step 4

Pull out the test strip and lay it on a solid, preferably white, background, which might make it easier to discern what color the strip has turned. Discard the remaining beverage that was tested.

Step 5

Wait at least 1 to 2 minutes to interpret the strip or follow manufacturer's instructions. The back of the test strip bottle or a chart accompanying the test strips will correlate the strip color to the sugar result.

Step 6

Compare the sugar result listed from the strip to the grams of sugar listed on the nutritional label. Try experimenting with several canned beverages to see which one has the lowest glucose content.