YELLOWKNIFE - Paula Klassen and the rest of her Grade 7 class need more gym time each week just to burn the amount of sugar contained in the drinks consumed at lunch.

That was her surprising conclusion in a winning science fair project prepared for Weledeh Catholic school.

While drinking a cream soda one day, she said she came up with the idea of comparing the amount of sugar in lunch drinks to the amount of energy burned in gym class.

"Is the average Grade 7 student burning off all those calories?" she asked.

To come up with her answers, she polled the 33 members of her class to find out what they drank with each lunch. Some drank water, others had V8 juice and others drank root beer or Pepsi.

According to her study, a can of V8 had 10 grams of sugar, while Pepsi or Barq's Root Beer had the most, at 41 grams. A serving of apple juice contained 23 grams of sugar.

In a typical week, Klassen said her peers drink an average of 346.75 grams of sugar, 1,387 calories.

She said her class gets 30 minutes of time in the gym three times a week. With usual activities, the students only burn only 327 calories. The only time they burn more calories is when they're swimming or playing indoor soccer.

"They're surprised there's actually that much sugar in drinks," she said when asked what reaction she got from science fair judges.