Singapore will become the first country in the world to ban advertisements of packaged drinks with very high sugar content, in its latest salvo in the war on diabetes. It will also be mandatory for drinks with medium-to-high sugar content to carry a label on the front of the pack to signal they are unhealthy. Drinks affected include those in bottles, cans and packs. Soft drinks, juices, sachets of three-in-one drinks, and cultured milk and yogurt drinks are covered. The front-of-pack label will be colour-coded and show a grade to indicate if the drink is healthy, neutral or unhealthy. More than 30 countries have introduced such labels, with great success. In Chile, the sales of drinks with the unhealthy labels fell by 25 per cent after 11/2 years. The move is part of the war on diabetes, which is a major health problem in Singapore. A survey last year found that more than half the 12 spoons of sugar people consume here daily comes from such drinks.

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Straits Times