Singapore bans ads for high sugar drinks

From:The New Paper

 

High-sugar drinks account for half of all sugar-sweetened beverages sold. TNP FILE PHOTO

Singapore will become the first country in the world to ban advertisements of packaged drinks with very high sugar content, in its latest salvo in the war on diabetes.

It will also be mandatory for drinks with medium-to-high sugar content to carry a label on the front of the pack to signal they are unhealthy.

Drinks affected include those in bottles, cans and packs. Soft drinks, juices, sachets of three-in-one drinks, and cultured milk and yogurt drinks are covered.

When this comes into play and what exactly will be affected will be announced next year, with more time given to manufacturers before the measures are implemented.

Announcing this yesterday, Senior Minister of State for Health Edwin Tong said that these changes are designed to encourage people to make more informed choices and to get manufacturers to reduce the sugar content in packaged sugar-sweetened beverages.

The front-of-pack label will be colour-coded and show a grade to indicate if the drink is healthy, neutral or unhealthy.

How a drink is graded depends largely, but not solely, on the amount of sugar it contains.

Other factors include the amount of saturated fat such as that found in three-in-one coffee mixes.


UNHEALTHY

The label will be compulsory only for drinks classified as unhealthy. But the label may also be used to promote healthier drinks.

The move is part of the war on diabetes, which is a major health problem in Singapore.

A survey last year found that more than half the 12 spoons of sugar people consume here daily comes from such drinks.

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