New Delhi: The government is doing its bit to make the nation healthier. After levying an additional 5 per cent excise duty on carbonated beverages, the Processed Food Industries Minister has urged fast food giant PepsiCo to reduce the sugar content in their carbonated drinks.
After a meeting between PepsiCo CEO Indira Nooyi and Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the ministry issued a statement saying, "PepsiCo has been further requested to bring down the sugar content of soft drinks so that the health aspects of such products are duly taken care of,"
According to experts, high sugar levels can cause serious health hazards. India has nearly 3 crore obese people out of which around 20 lakh are adolescents.
The latest draft guidelines by the World Health Organisation recommend 25 grams or 6 teaspoonfuls per day as the ideal sugar intake for a normal adult. But just one bottle of a carbonated drink like this one contains almost double that amount of sugar.
A Harvard school of public health report cites several studies that indicate for each additional 355 gms carbonated drink that children consumed each day, the odds of becoming obese increased by 60 per cent. People who consume 1- 2 cans of carbonated drinks regularly, have 26 per cent greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Those who averaged one can of a sugary beverage per day had a 20 per cent higher risk of having a heart attack or dying from a heart attack than men who rarely consumed sugary drinks. Women who consumed a can a day of carbonated drinks had a 75 per cent higher risk of gout than women who rarely had such drink.
This change has not been formalized yet. Sources at the ministry say it was just a casual conversation that the minister had with the PepsiCo CEO.
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