from Christopher Banks, president, British Soft Drinks Association
Sir; Hats off to The Grocer for pointing out the facts about health and diet in the face of all the myths. The campaigners seem to have a problem in that the facts don’t always say what they want them to say. Facts can be like that.
Here’s an example.
We are told all the time that a rising tide of soft drinks is the cause of the nation’s obesity problem. A seductive, persuasive case, perhaps, except when exposed to the facts.
In the last 20 years, it is true that soft drinks consumption in this country has gone up by 135%. The British people are enjoying more soft drinks than ever before.
But that doesn’t mean they are consuming more calories. For almost all of the increase in consumption has been in diet, low calorie and no added sugar drinks and bottled waters. The overall consumption of regular soft drinks has barely increased at all. It’s an awkward fact for the knee-jerk campaigners against the food and drink industry - awkward but true.
And the story gets even better. Let’s ask why there has been a huge increase in diet drinks rather than their regular equivalents. The answer is not regulation but deregulation. The licensing of aspartame and acesulfame-K, two low calorie sweeteners, in 1984 and the abolition of minimum sugar requirements in 1993 have led to more freedom to innovate for manufacturers and more freedom of choice for consumers. And how was that freedom used? To make and choose drinks that did not add calories to the diet.
It must be frustrating for campaigners and lobby groups when they come up against evidence like this. Consumer information and consumer choice are the real weapons against obesity and weight-gain. Blaming the food and drink industry is missing the point.
Sir; Hats off to The Grocer for pointing out the facts about health and diet in the face of all the myths. The campaigners seem to have a problem in that the facts don’t always say what they want them to say. Facts can be like that.
Here’s an example.
We are told all the time that a rising tide of soft drinks is the cause of the nation’s obesity problem. A seductive, persuasive case, perhaps, except when exposed to the facts.
In the last 20 years, it is true that soft drinks consumption in this country has gone up by 135%. The British people are enjoying more soft drinks than ever before.
But that doesn’t mean they are consuming more calories. For almost all of the increase in consumption has been in diet, low calorie and no added sugar drinks and bottled waters. The overall consumption of regular soft drinks has barely increased at all. It’s an awkward fact for the knee-jerk campaigners against the food and drink industry - awkward but true.
And the story gets even better. Let’s ask why there has been a huge increase in diet drinks rather than their regular equivalents. The answer is not regulation but deregulation. The licensing of aspartame and acesulfame-K, two low calorie sweeteners, in 1984 and the abolition of minimum sugar requirements in 1993 have led to more freedom to innovate for manufacturers and more freedom of choice for consumers. And how was that freedom used? To make and choose drinks that did not add calories to the diet.
It must be frustrating for campaigners and lobby groups when they come up against evidence like this. Consumer information and consumer choice are the real weapons against obesity and weight-gain. Blaming the food and drink industry is missing the point.
No comments yet