Facing change

Making more out of a good thing the Health Ministry plans to extend its warning label system from sugar to salt and fat in food. The measure could well be the strongest Government push to give consumers the information to pick products but the same policy could throw a hard-to-swallow curve ball at companies that will have to evolve quickly to meet different consumption patterns and demands from the public.  

New research adds to the body of evidence that soda warning labels can produce important public health gains. A study, conducted at the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics at the University of Pennsylvania and published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, examined the impact of warning labels—such as “Safety Warning: Drinking beverages with added sugar(s) contributes to obesity, diabetes, and tooth decay”—on the attitudes of adolescents.

It found that warnings can reduce the perception that sugar drinks are healthy or increase energy or focus. The research also provides preliminary evidence that warnings can affect young people’s intentions to buy sugar drinks. This study builds on earlier research that found warning labels may deter parents from buying sugar drinks for their children.

Providing this kind of information is a classic public health intervention that has been used to minimise environmental exposure to toxins, increase sanitation to prevent food-borne illnesses, and reduce the use of tobacco products. It’s time to use this public health tool in the fight against soda-related diseases. If salt and fat labelling is implemented, Sri Lanka will leapfrog to a segment dominated mostly by developed countries, where consumers can make challenging decisions on what they decide to purchase.   

Local companies, used to decades of using the same recipe, will have to evolve fast to meet consumers who will not just demand that products be healthy but that they remain tasty as well. This opens up new opportunities for businesses focused on healthy, organic food but it also means that poorer people must also have access to healthy food that they can purchase instead of the high-sugar or high-fat goods that they have been consuming thus far.   

Experience from officials implementing these policies and pilot programs provides important insights for governments to help them design more effective policies to reduce sugar intake in the context of broader dietary improvements. Insights include the need for measurable indicators of change; engagement, incentives, and/or clear standards for entities involved in the manufacture and delivery of food; actions to inform stakeholders about the broader benefits of reduced sugar consumption; clear and understandable messages for consumers, and synergistic, complementary actions.

A comprehensive approach is needed to reduce sugar/fat/salt consumption at a population level. Part of this comprehensive approach should be dialogue with stakeholders in the supply chain to identify what ‘upstream’ actions can be taken to reduce the supply and demand for these products, taking into consideration the economic impact of such actions. 

Given the relatively low health spending of 4% of GDP, Non Communicable Diseases (NCD) care in Sri Lanka is increasingly financed by out of pocket spending by the general public. Tackling NCDs in South Asia early on with better prevention and treatment would significantly spare poor people from the crushing burden of poor health, lost earnings, deepening poverty and the risk of disability and premature deaths. Clearly the Government has to sweeten the deal in more ways.