Tesco will gradually decrease added sugar in their soft drinks

...But that's great news to share for Action on Sugar, Tesco being the first retailer to commit to this 5% per year reduction plan. Action on Sugar's concern is sugar (obviously), and how bad it can be for our health. This program's aim is to reduce the excessive sugar intake and the sugar-related illnesses (obesity, type 2 diabetes,...) in the UK. But it's not that easy since we all are addicted to sweet taste and we consume far too much sugar to stay healthy. Can you imagine that there are 9 teaspoons of sugar in a can of Tesco's Classic Cola and "only" 8 in their Original Cola? Coca-Cola and Pepsi are not doing better with 9 teaspoons each. A small bottle of Minute Maid orange juice contains 12 teaspoons of sugar... and that's just a few examples.

A comparable plan by the Consensus Action on Salt & Health (CASH) made the UK's salt intake decrease by 15% and it led to a reduction of deaths caused by strokes and heart attacks. Experience shows that the best way to re-educate people seems to be slowly, but surely. The maximum recommended daily amount of sugar is 5 to 6 teaspoons for a woman et 7 to eight for a man but most of the time, we exceed it without even noticing it. The commitment made by Tesco is to cut by 5% per year the added sugar in their own brands of soft drinks. They also committed to remove all added sugar from the Kids category by September, to initiate the removal of all added sugar from mainstream squash and to promote a healthier way of life through squash, water and flavoured water. Tesco makes 30% of the UK's soft drinks sales so that is a significant move, hopefully followed by others.

*Photo: Mankind 2k