Which Pop Has the Least Amount of Sugar? A Guide to Healthier Choices

November 8, 2025 •

4 min read

According to the American Heart Association, the average American consumes far more added sugar than recommended, with sugary drinks being a major source. Understanding which pop has the least amount of sugar is key to making a healthier choice and reducing your daily intake of unnecessary sweets. Navigating the options can be confusing, but this guide simplifies the choices for you.

Quick Summary

This guide provides a comprehensive overview of popular and alternative fizzy drinks, highlighting their sugar content to help you make informed decisions. It covers traditional diet sodas, natural low-sugar brands, and sparkling waters, offering a clear comparison of healthier alternatives to high-sugar beverages.

Key Points

Zero-Sugar Options: Traditional 'Zero Sugar' or 'Diet' sodas contain 0g of sugar, sweetened with artificial ingredients like aspartame.
Natural Low-Sugar Alternatives: Brands such as Olipop and Poppi offer low-sugar options (2-5g) sweetened naturally with fruit juice, monk fruit, and stevia.
Sparkling Water: Unsweetened flavored sparkling water from brands like Bubly and LaCroix is the ultimate zero-sugar option, using natural essences for flavor.
Read the Label: Always check the nutrition label for 'Added Sugars' and ingredient lists to understand the true sweetener source.
Health Considerations: The best choice depends on your health goals, balancing the preference for zero-sugar taste vs. fewer artificial ingredients found in natural brands.
Best for Flavor without Artificial Sweeteners: Spindrift is an excellent choice, using a small amount of real fruit juice for flavor with no added sugar.

Traditional Diet and Zero-Sugar Options

When searching for which pop has the least amount of sugar, the immediate answer for many people has long been diet soda or zero-sugar variants. Brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Sprite all offer zero-sugar versions that, as the name implies, contain zero grams of sugar. These sodas rely on artificial sweeteners to replicate the taste of their full-sugar counterparts. While they offer a sweet taste without the sugar or calories, it's worth noting that artificial sweeteners have been a subject of ongoing debate concerning their potential health impacts. For those focused solely on eliminating sugar, these are effective choices.

The Rise of Natural Low-Sugar Sodas

In recent years, a new category of low-sugar and prebiotic sodas has emerged, using more natural ingredients and alternative sweeteners. These options are often seen as a healthier middle ground between traditional sugary sodas and artificial-sweetened diet drinks. These brands use ingredients like fruit juice, monk fruit, and stevia to create a sweet taste while keeping the overall sugar count very low. Examples include Olipop, Poppi, and Culture Pop, which often incorporate additional functional ingredients like prebiotics and probiotics for gut health.

Sparkling Water: The Ultimate Zero-Sugar Alternative

For those who want to cut sugar entirely while still enjoying a bubbly drink, flavored sparkling water is the best option. Brands like Spindrift, Bubly, and LaCroix offer a wide range of flavors derived from real fruit or natural essences with no added sugar or artificial sweeteners. Spindrift, for example, uses a splash of real fruit juice, resulting in a small amount of naturally occurring sugar but no added sugar. For a truly zero-sugar, zero-calorie option, pure seltzer water is the top pick, with flavor drops available for customization.

Comparison of Low-Sugar Pop Options


Pop Type	Sugar Content (per 12 oz can)	Sweetener Source	Notable Features
Traditional Zero-Sugar Pop	0 grams	Artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose)	Familiar flavors, zero calories
Olipop	2-5 grams	Natural sweeteners, fruit juice	Prebiotic fiber for gut health
Poppi	5 grams	Natural sweeteners, fruit juice, apple cider vinegar	Low-calorie, appealing flavors
Spindrift Soda	0-7 grams	Real fruit juice and purée	No added sugar, no artificial sweeteners
Zevia	0 grams	Stevia leaf extract	Natural, zero-calorie, wide flavor variety
Flavored Sparkling Water	0 grams	Natural flavors or fruit essence	Zero calories, simple ingredients

Making Your Choice: Health vs. Flavor

When deciding which pop to choose, your personal health goals and taste preferences are the most important factors. If your primary goal is to completely eliminate sugar and calories, any product explicitly labeled "zero sugar" or a simple flavored sparkling water will meet that need. Brands like Zevia, sweetened with stevia, and Humm Probiotic Soda, sweetened with allulose, offer zero-sugar options with more natural sweetener profiles than traditional diet sodas.

For those who prefer a less processed option and don't mind a very small amount of naturally occurring sugar from fruit juice, brands like Spindrift and Poppi are excellent choices. They provide a more complex and natural flavor experience without the overwhelming sweetness or artificial ingredients of traditional sodas. These options can also offer additional benefits, such as the prebiotics in Poppi and Olipop, which support digestive health.

Reading Labels Is Critical

The key to confidently choosing a low-sugar pop is to become a savvy label reader. The terms "diet" and "zero sugar" are not always synonymous with the lowest sugar content overall, especially when comparing to newer natural brands. Always check the nutrition facts panel for the "Added Sugars" line to see how much sugar has been included during processing. Additionally, check the ingredient list for the type of sweetener used. Is it a high-intensity artificial sweetener like aspartame, or a natural plant-based sweetener like stevia or monk fruit?. Knowing the source of the sweetness will help you align your choice with your dietary preferences. For a deeper look at reading labels, consult the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's guide to the Nutrition Facts label.

Conclusion

Ultimately, when determining which pop has the least amount of sugar, the answer depends on whether you are looking for zero sugar or simply a significantly reduced sugar content from more natural sources. Traditional zero-sugar sodas offer a guaranteed 0g of sugar per serving by using artificial sweeteners. Alternatively, a growing market of healthier, low-sugar alternatives like Olipop and Poppi provides a compromise with minimal natural sugar and additional health benefits. For the absolute least sugar, unsweetened flavored sparkling water remains the best choice, offering hydration and fizz without any sugar or calories whatsoever. By understanding the different options available, you can easily find a fizzy drink that fits your personal health and wellness goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

Both Diet Coke and Coke Zero contain zero sugar and zero calories, using artificial sweeteners to achieve their taste. The primary difference lies in the flavor profile, with Coke Zero formulated to taste more like regular Coke. Neither contains actual sugar, making them similar in that respect.

Research on the long-term health effects of artificial sweeteners used in zero-sugar sodas is ongoing and mixed. Some studies suggest potential links to changes in gut flora, while others find moderate consumption to be safe for most people. For individuals seeking to avoid both sugar and artificial additives, natural alternatives or sparkling water are better options.

For major brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi, the lowest sugar options are their 'Zero Sugar' or 'Diet' variants, which contain zero grams of sugar. In their regular lines, a product like Sprite can sometimes have slightly less sugar than a cola, but the difference is minimal.

Natural low-sugar sodas typically use plant-based sweeteners like stevia or monk fruit, and sometimes real fruit juice, to achieve sweetness. Traditional diet sodas use high-intensity artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose. Natural sodas often advertise added benefits like prebiotics, whereas diet sodas focus on cutting calories and sugar completely.

Most plain flavored sparkling waters, like Bubly and LaCroix, contain no sugar or sweeteners and are flavored with natural essences. Brands like Spindrift use a small amount of real fruit juice, which contains a few grams of naturally occurring sugar but has no added sugar.

Olipop achieves its sweet taste with a combination of natural sweeteners like fruit juice, stevia, and a prebiotic fiber called inulin. The fiber provides sweetness and bulk while keeping the added sugar and total calorie count low, offering a functional health benefit as well.

This depends on your goal. A small can of regular pop has less total sugar than a large can but still contains a significant amount of added sugar. A diet pop has no sugar at all but contains artificial sweeteners. For someone trying to minimize sugar intake entirely, the diet pop is the better choice, but if you want to avoid artificial ingredients, the smaller portion of regular pop is a compromise.