Singapore to Ban Advertising for High-Sugar Bubble Tea, Coffee, and Fruit Juice Next Year!

Singapore Bans Advertising for High-Sugar Beverages in Fight Against Diabetes

As coffee and milk tea remain essential beverages for office workers, and with the arrival of the Beginning of Autumn (Liqiu), businesses and consumers alike eagerly call for "the first milk tea of autumn" and "the first coffee of autumn." Meanwhile, Singapore, located on the other side of Southeast Asia, has issued a ban on advertising for beverages such as milk tea and fruit juice.

On August 11, Singapore's Health Minister Ong Ye Kung announced at an event that to further curb the development of diabetes, from the end of 2023, beverages with high sugar and trans-fat content will be prohibited from advertising. Singapore's Ministry of Health will announce specific measures next year.

These beverages include drinks prepared on-site at coffee shops, freshly squeezed juices, and milk tea. Singapore's Ministry of Health requires businesses to label the nutritional grades of beverages with high sugar and trans-fat content on physical or electronic menus.

According to a December 30, 2021 report by The Straits Times, Singapore's Ministry of Health previously stated to the media that nutritional grades range from A to D, with D being the least healthy of the four grades. Grades A and B are marked in green, Grade C in orange, and Grade D in red. For beverages in Grades C and D, their nutritional grade must be clearly marked for sale. Additionally, businesses are prohibited from advertising Grade D beverages on any online or offline platforms.

This measure will help consumers identify beverages with high sugar and saturated fat content, enabling consumers to make healthier choices, while also reducing the impact of advertising on consumer preferences and driving industry restructuring.

Taking the following green tea beverage as an example, containing 5.8 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters, it is marked as Grade C, with the corresponding grade label visible on the outer packaging.

Ong Ye Kung added that the government is working on finalizing the details of related measures, expected to be announced mid-next year and officially implemented before the end of next year.

Singapore's Diabetes Challenge

This measure is part of the Singapore government's efforts to influence consumers' dietary habits and sugar intake to combat the country's high diabetes prevalence. More than 400,000 people in Singapore have diabetes, equivalent to 1 in every 9 Singaporeans. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of kidney failure, and Singapore has one of the highest rates of end-stage renal failure globally.

Ong Ye Kung stated that approximately 6 new patients in Singapore are diagnosed with kidney failure daily, compared to about 4 patients per day in 2011. This figure is primarily influenced by two factors: population aging and disease prevalence. Given Singapore's severely aging population, the number of kidney disease patients is expected to increase further. While diabetes prevalence has remained stable for many years, obesity rates have been rising (obesity is a risk factor for diabetes).

Progress in Singapore's War on Diabetes

To curb the trend of diabetes incidence, Singapore declared "war on diabetes" as early as 2016, implementing various measures to limit sugar intake among the public, which have gradually shown results. According to interviews with some food and beverage industry practitioners by The Straits Times, in the past three years, more and more consumers have prioritized healthy choices, with 60% to 70% of consumers requesting less sugar or even sugar-free options for their coffee or tea.

Image source: The Straits Times, Internet

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