McDonald’s has announced that it will begin to switch some of their drink products to ‘no added sugar’ alternatives.
How are McDonalds’s soft drinks changing?
Fanta Orange and Oasis Summer Fruits will be replaced with Fanta Orange Zero and Oasis Zero Summer Fruits across all restaurants in the UK.
This could impact people living with diabetes who use these drinks as a hypo treatment or who are carb counting.
The switch will happen in a staggered way over several months, so if you visit during the transition period, please check which drinks are available to avoid any confusion. Posters will also be displayed when changes are taking place in restaurants.
McDonald’s restaurants will continue to offer options containing sugar, such as Coca-Cola Classic, Tropicana Orange Juice and Irn-Bru (Scotland only).
Alternative hypo treatments
If you are looking for alternative hypo treatments, you could consider:
- Five glucose or dextrose tablets
- Four Jelly Babies
- A 150-200ml glass of a sugary (non-diet) drink
- A small glass/carton (200ml) of pure fruit juice
- Two tubes of a glucose gel like GlucoGel or Rapilose Gel.
Hypo treatments should usually contain 15 to 20g of fast-acting carbohydrate to be effective, however children will need less than this to treat a hypo.
Your diabetes team will be able to give you advice about how much to take and which treatment to choose.
You may be able to get hypo treatments like glucose gel, glucose tablets and dextrose tablets on prescription.
If you have any questions or concerns about treating hypos you can ring our helpline on 0345 123 2399.
