Coke and Pepsi are the leading brands

Britons drink 130 cans of soft drinks - or 43 litres - each per year.

But the sales of soft drinks like Coca Cola and Pepsi are set to fall.

The UK spends �5bn per year on the fizzy drinks, and is the world's tenth biggest cola market.

According to the research group Datamonitor, the volume of soft drinks purchased by consumers worldwide this year only increased by 1.9%, compared to 3.8% just five years ago.

It predicts the figure will fall to just 1.7% by 2007.

Saturation

The main reason for the decline is market saturation.

Americans already drink 278 cans per year, twice the rate in the UK.

And in the US, sales volumes of cola are only growing by 0.9% each year.

According to the report's author, John Band: "Cola is not going to lose its dominance for a long time but it has already lost its fizz."

He predicts that cola will decline from 26% of the total drinks market in 1997 to 23% by 2007.

Alternative drinks

The research points to a boom in the popularity of alternatives to soft drinks, including bottled mineral water and fruit juices.

Datamonitor predicts that the non-carbonated drinks market will grow worldwide from 152bn litres to 210bn litres in 2007, a growth rate of nearly 9%.

And iced tea and coffee have also shown strong growth, especially in the US market.