Emulating Britain’s best-loved beverages through tastebud trickery

YouGov have revealed that, of our top 10 soft drinks in the UK, 8 are jam packed full of sugars and additives. From Robinson’s and Ribena in second and third place behind PG Tips, to more obvious culprits to our over zealous sugar consumption such as Fanta and Coca Cola, Brits are fuelling ever increasing rates of type 2 diabetes. In light of this, hydration experts Air Up have developed retronasal technology to provide a healthy alternative to the 37% of Brits trying to reduce their consumption of sugary drinks but struggling due to a lack of alternatives.

The soft drinks market in the UK is worth £3.8 billion dominated by these sugary drinks and those labelled as ‘zero-calorie’ still filled with a variety of additives and sweeteners. Thus, despite Brits’ looking for healthy alternatives to their favourite flavoured, sugary drinks and drink more water, these attempts often prove to be in vain.

Landmark research by hydration experts, Air Up, analyses the complexities behind Brits’ fraught relationship with sugary drinks revealing the alarming number of Brits (37%) trying and failing to reduce sugar intake from soft drinks due to a lack of alternatives and the 42% of Brits drinking low to zero calorie drinks in attempts to reduce their sugar intake:

Key stats:

37% (16,093,000) are trying to reduce their sugar intake but are struggling to do so due to the alternatives available to them
42% (21,297,000) drink low to zero calorie sugary drinks in an attempt to reduce their sugar intake
36% (17,319,000) agree that in the absence of sugar, they are not entirely sure what is in no added sugar drinks to maintain their sweetness
45% (23,152,000) of Brits only drink around one glass of water a day
30% (15,701,000) of Brits find water boring so they don’t often drink it
29% (14,814,000) of Brits have tried, without success, to drink more water
Air Up’s research reveals that, shockingly, almost half (45%) of the nation only drink one glass of water a day, with 30% citing a lack of flavour making it boring as their reasoning. Air Up have therefore launched their innovative retronasal technology, emulating the flavours of our favourite soft drinks without any of the chemical nasties, encouraging healthier lifestyles for Brits in a truly unique way.

With 80% of flavour coming from our sense of smell, instead of taste, Air Up harnesses this clever bit of science, infusing every sip of water from your bottle with flavoured air, offering Brits a healthy alternative to flavoured drinks while still drinking 100% pure water. Each pod contains natural flavourings and scents that infuse with ambient air to be added to the pure water. These flavours range from Lime and Orange-Passionfruit to Cola and Iced Coffee with ten others in between, improving our sense of health and wellness without sacrificing flavour, truly disrupting the soft drinks sector and our consumption habits forever.

Lena Jüngst – co-founder of Air Up comments:

“Air Up is a new and fascinating way to taste. What I love most about our product, as a designer, is that it shows that a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle can still be fun and appealing. For me that is a very promising sign for our future, and something that we have worked hard to achieve. Air Up is the world’s first drinking bottle that flavours water only by scent with the help of retronasal smelling. Compared to other drinks with flavour, we do not put any ingredients into the water, but only add small fragrance bubbles that are not absorbed by the body. So the water remains water – just with flavour. This is not only good for your health, but also a much more sustainable alternative. As far as we know, no one has ever used retronasal smell like we do, to create flavour. We are a true “world’s first” and that’s pretty rare nowadays.”