Risk assessment of additives through soft drinks and nectars consumption on Portuguese population: A 2010 survey

·Six additives in different drinks collected in Portugal were investigated.·Traditional soft drinks showed the highest mean levels for saccharin and benzoic acid.·Dietary exposure to additives of the Portuguese adult population was assessed.·The results show that the Portuguese population is not at risk of exceeding the ADIs. This study investigated whether the Portuguese population is at risk of exceeding ADI levels for acesulfame-K, saccharin, aspartame, caffeine, benzoic and sorbic acid through an assessment of dietary intake of additives and specific consumption of four types of beverages, traditional soft drinks and soft drinks based on mineral waters, energetic drinks, and nectars. The highest mean levels of additives were found for caffeine in energetic drinks, 293.5mg/L, for saccharin in traditional soft drinks, 18.4mg/L, for acesulfame-K and aspartame in nectars, with 88.2 and 97.8mg/L, respectively, for benzoic acid in traditional soft drinks, 125.7mg/L, and for sorbic acid in soft drinks based on mineral water, 166.5mg/L. Traditional soft drinks presented the highest acceptable daily intake percentages (ADIs%) for acesulfame-K, aspartame, benzoic and sorbic acid and similar value for saccharin (0.5%) when compared with soft drinks based on mineral water, 0.7%, 0.08%, 7.3%, and 1.92% versus 0.2%, 0.053%, 0.6%, and 0.28%, respectively. However for saccharin the highest percentage of ADI was obtained for nectars, 0.9%, in comparison with both types of soft drinks, 0.5%. Therefore, it is concluded that the Portuguese population is not at risk of exceeding the established ADIs for the studied additives.