What this calculator does
Soft drinks pack a surprising amount of sugar, but nutrition labels usually show carbohydrate only for a small "reference amount" such as per 100 ml. This tool scales that figure up to the actual size of the bottle or can you are drinking, giving you the total grams of sugar in the whole container. It then translates the number into an easy-to-picture count of sugar sticks (the small 3 g packets you find in cafes), so you can instantly see how sweet your drink really is.
How to use it
Enter three values from the bottle or label: the container volume you are actually consuming (ml), the reference amount the label refers to (usually 100 ml), and the carbohydrate per reference amount (g). Press calculate to see total sugar in grams and the equivalent number of sugar sticks.
The formula
The calculation is a simple proportion. First the label value is scaled to the full container:
$$\text{sugarGrams} = \text{carbPerUnit} \times \frac{\text{containerVolume}}{\text{unitAmount}}$$
Then the total is converted to sugar sticks using an assumed 3 g per stick:
$$\text{sugarSticks} = \frac{\text{sugarGrams}}{3}$$
In typical sweetened soft drinks essentially all carbohydrate is sugar, so the label "carbohydrate" figure is treated as "sugar".
Worked example
A 500 ml bottle lists 13.5 g of carbohydrate per 100 ml. Scaling up: $$13.5 \times \frac{500}{100} = 13.5 \times 5 = \textbf{67.5 g}$$ of sugar. As sugar sticks: \(67.5 \div 3 = \textbf{22.5}\) sticks. That single bottle contains the equivalent of more than twenty sugar packets.
FAQ
Why use carbohydrate instead of sugar? Most regular soft drinks contain no fiber or starch, so the carbohydrate value and the sugar value are essentially the same. For drinks with added fiber or sugar alcohols this method will overestimate the true sugar.
Why 3 g per sugar stick? A standard café sugar stick or packet weighs about 3 g, which makes a handy mental reference. The constant is fixed in this calculator.
What if the reference amount is zero? The division would be undefined, so the reference amount must be greater than zero for a valid result.
