Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said global food and beverages major PepsiCo is looking to bring down sugar contents in its soft drinks. Badal met PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi. 'In soft drinks they (PepsiCo) are looking at how to bring down the sugar content (but) that same cold drink has the taste but healthy contents in it,' the Minister said after the meeting.
Nooyi, however, did not comment and only said her visit to India was 'wonderful'. The Minister also added that the PepsiCo Chairman was open to the idea of playing a role in enhancing the nutritional value of meals provided under the government's midday scheme. 'I have suggested if they could come up for midday meal scheme in rural areas as malnutrition is big issue... some of these packed meals which could enhance the nutrition value and which provide for iron deficiency they were interested in that they said they would look into that,' Badal said.
Badal said she discussed with Nooyi on how to contribute in giving healthy food in tiffins for school going children. 'I have suggested there is huge potential for providing healthy meals for children in their tiffins and something which is healthy and could be done quickly in the morning,' she added.
Badal also said they also discussed about a number of women-related issues and added, 'I think she (Nooyi) is one of the icons for the all Indian women. She is inspiration to every women as she has risen to the heights on the sheer ability of her capabilities.'
Did you know that drinking even one soft drink (350ml) increases your chances of getting type 2 diabetes by 20%? Or that it can also damage your liver and kidney and is likely to cause cancer and dementia? That's right, the ubiquitous soft drink that's endorsed by celebrities across the world and claims to be synonymous with happiness has been considered by many to be a dangerous product.
The soft drink issue found its way into our nation's apex court today. The SC directed that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to monitor and conduct periodic checks of all carbonated soft drinks as the issue relates to citizens' basic right to life. A bench of justices K S Radhakrishnan and A K Sikri passed the direction while disposing of a PIL that had sought constitution of a separate panel to regulate soft drinks to protect citizens from their 'deleterious effects'.
'The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India will conduct periodic checks of the carbonated drinks,' the bench said, adding the matter relates to the fundamental right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. The PIL alleged that carbonated drinks have 'serious deleterious effects on human health' and that no action had been taken to test and assess the risk posed by such beverages.
According to a major study done by the Imperial College London, drinking even 350 ml of carbonated beverage a day is likely to raise your chance of getting type 2 diabetes by 20%. Researchers believe that it's not just weight gain that soft drink causes but it could also be causing an increase in insulin resistance.
Why we need to worry about soft drinks
American scientists Robert Lustig had called for sweetened drinks and food to be regulated in the same manner as tobacco. Earlier, New York City Mayor Bloomberg had tried to ban supersized sodas in his city but to no avail, the courts deciding that it impeached on their freedom of choice. It has long been hypothesised that it was the easy availability of sugar in our diet that made the entire race vulnerable to obesity.
As human beings, we're designed to crave sugar since it contains glucose which is essential because it's an energy source that keeps the human body functioning. However, earlier sugar was only available in natural sources like fruits which limited the amount we consumed. The Industrial Age however made crystallised sugar readily available and now it's hard to find a society where sugar isn't readily available.
How much sugar do soft drinks have?
Now the problem is that soft drinks contain a lot of sugar, 350 ml will have 31.5 g of sugar. The American Heart Association recommends that adolescents consume between 21 and 33g of sugar per day for children, while adult women should have 25g and adult men 37.5g. One can of soda, actually has enough sugar to fulfil your entire day's calorie requirements without adding any nutritional value whatsoever!
Read more about causes, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment of diabetes.
With inputs from PTI
Source: Getty Images
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Entities 0 Name: Badal Count: 4 1 Name: PepsiCo Count: 3 2 Name: Nooyi Count: 3 3 Name: Standards Authority of India Count: 2 4 Name: Robert Lustig Count: 1 5 Name: Harsimrat Kaur Badal Count: 1 6 Name: PIL Count: 1 7 Name: New York City Mayor Bloomberg Count: 1 8 Name: Imperial College London Count: 1 9 Name: India Count: 1 10 Name: PTI Count: 1 11 Name: Radhakrishnan Count: 1 12 Name: Indra Nooyi Count: 1 13 Name: American Heart Association Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1nzJtMD Title: The Drinker's Manifesto Description: Across my desk recently came a reissue of the 1964 classic "The Drinking Man's Diet," a cute little volume that maintains that if you drink a bit you'll lose weight. Counterintuitive, since one of the things we think we know about alcohol is that it provides truly empty calories, which generally speaking cause weight gain (see, for example, soda).
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