Bournvita, a popular chocolate malt drink mix manufactured by Cadbury, has now reduced the quantity of added sugar by 14.4 percent. Earlier, the popular health drink consisted of 37.4gm sugar per 100gm. Now, the new packaging reveals that it has 32.2 gm of added sugar.
In April this year, Revant Himatsingka aka Food Pharmer, a Health Influencer with more than 1.5 million followers across social media, uploaded a video on Bournvita on Instagram highlighting its high sugar content. Soon, the video went viral getting over 12 million views.
Himatsingka told Financial Express.com that Bournvita still has 32g of added sugar per 100g (so approximately 1/3rd of Bournvita is sugar) so he still does not recommend it as a “health drink”.
“Bournvita has taken a crucial step so it is a positive step in the right direction. These things take time…and the bigger thing is I made a video and this happened. What if everyone starts doing this? There will be so much more change,” he told Financial Express.com.
The Health influencer also maintained that this will also set an example for other brands and companies. “A few months ago Maggi Ketchup had made a change by reducing the quantity of their added sugar by 22 percent…I got a lot of criticism from people around me for making the video on Bournvita. They used to say a video won’t do anything. But that video led to this…this is big. This is going to be a chain reaction. One company has done it and others will also do this,” Himatsingka said.
It is noteworthy that Bournvita sent Food Pharmer a legal notice to take down the video. Consequently, Himatsingka had to take down the video. However, the video led to a massive uproar among the public.
It is noteworthy that the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights had asked Mondelez International India to review and withdraw all “misleading” advertisements, packaging, and labels on its product.
In a letter to the President of Mondelez International India, the NCPCR said it has received a complaint wherein it was informed that Bournvita, which promotes itself as a health powder or health drink, contains a high percentage of sugar and contents or substances that may have a harmful impact on the health of children.
Moreover, The Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest — India (NAPi), a think tank working on nutrition policy, had also issued a statement saying they stand by him.
“The claims by the company are vague and do not showcase or share any scientific evidence which could be referred to and reviewed by the public health scientists. Unfairly targeting someone who did a public service is condemned. NAPi stands by Mr. Revant Himatsingka for speaking the factual information on the nutritional information of the product Bournvita that it is high in total sugar -the product is 49.8-gram total sugar per 100 grams,” the nutrition body said in its statement.
Several pediatricians and health experts told Financial Express.com that children between the ages of 2 to 18 years should have less than 6 teaspoons of sugar or 24 gms of sugar. Meanwhile, Children less than 2 years old should not have any added sugar. Some experts also told Financial Express.com that the sugar intake of the child must be balanced and should be within the amount of the overall daily diet.
