Thailand's Biggest Health Watchdog Proposes Higher Tax On Sweetened Soda Drinks

[SouthernMan3]

Just take a minute and watch this video.

It's mind blowing!!!!!

youtube.com/watch?v=F10EyGwd57M

type in www. at the beginning

Thank you for posting this.

I will definitely be showing it to my children when they get home from school !

[rayw]

What is needed is more stocks of sugar free soda drinks like Pepsi Max and Coke Zero etc. Tesco Lotus locally are terrible for not stocking much in the way of diet sodas or even light beers. Maybe they should start having short supplies of normal cola instead and thus help encourage folk to drink the no sugar variety, that would help. I am diabetic so avoid sugary drinks and try to get Pepsi Max (which I love and far better than Coke Zero IMHO) and Singha Light beers but so difficult to get at many supermarkets. Maybe they also should reduce the tax on diet no sugar drinks and raise it on the sugary fattening drinks to help more encourage the change.

I can say that Pepsi Max is far more thirst quenching than normal Pepsi or Coke because of the lack of all that harmful sugar but it seems so hard to locate plentiful supplies of Pepsi Max lately ???. No I am not saying that diet cokes are healthy as likely they are not but just a whole lot better than the normal sugar laden varieties. I can also assure folk that once you get used to the sugar free sodas and light beers then you find you actually do prefer them to the standard drinks. Bottom line is is up to you and a question of taste balanced against health wishes.

[Tanaka]

The beverage industry association, however, argued against the claim, citing a study by Mahidol University that said soda beverages constituted only 2% of Thai people's daily sugar intake.

If that is the case then the following is true:

1 * 330ml soft drink = 7 teaspoons

therefore

7 * 50 = 350 teaspoons of sugar per day

1 * 1l bottle of soft drink = 1,060 teaspoons of sugar per day

1 teaspoon of sugar has 16 calories

therefore

A person drinking 1 can of soft drink per day has a sugar-based calorific intake of 5,600 calories per day

A person drinking 1 bottle of soft drink per day has a sugar-based calorific intake of 16,960 calories per day

With this in mind I think I would like to say that the beverage industry commissioned the report from Mahidol and didn't pay enough to get decent statistics or intepretation of data.

Then explain this please. I am 65 and have since I was 18 consumed 2-4 Liters of carbonated sodas every day. The high liquid intake is due to a malfunction o my body's liquid level. I am around 1,75 tall and weigh 70kg, have never been more. With your reasoning, I should be massively overweight which I am not. I am also in good physical shape with regards to my age. Oh, and I also take three teaspoons of sugar with my tea.

Sodas are not a main cause of obese children here. Look where these children eat and what. I doubt very much their main diet is traditional thai food.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Tanaka

[hellodolly]

You presume figures to justify your position. Number 1 what age would be considered premature death.

Secondly if it was me I would have a large Cole Zero and only one order of fries.

Studies have actually looked at the calories in a big mac (in many countries). In Australia they even require nutritional labels so by law they have to provide that information (the menu even shows how many KJ's per meal etc).

So my numbers aren't just made up, nor are my average calories per person.

I studied Bio Med and also read a lot about food etc, exercise, so it's all from real facts. I don't make up stuff.

And I too, refuse to drink non diet drinks. Even though it's still not good for you, lesser of two evils unfortunately. So with ya on that one.

I was referring to the fact that you switched from 3 big macs to 3 big macs and fries with a coke You go from 1,500 calories to 2'400 I didn't study a lot on the subject. But i know enough about math to know the difference between 1,500 and 2,400 . My experience with what is good for you and what is not good for you is what do you want to believe the studies are out there kind of like a Thai poll.

I would much rather draw my beliefs from studies that look at all sides of the situation. I bet 5 years ago you would have said coffee was bad for you now the studies are showing a cup or two a day are good for you.

All this you know I am sure. Now that we have that out of the way you confused me on your take on the diet pops.

Do you drink them?

"And I too, refuse to drink non diet drinks. Even though it's still not good for you, lesser of two evils unfortunately"

You best reread my statement I said I would have a Coke Zero with mine. In fact at home I drink Pepsi Max.

[hellodolly]

The beverage industry association, however, argued against the claim, citing a study by Mahidol University that said soda beverages constituted only 2% of Thai people's daily sugar intake.

If that is the case then the following is true:

1 * 330ml soft drink = 7 teaspoons

therefore

7 * 50 = 350 teaspoons of sugar per day

1 * 1l bottle of soft drink = 1,060 teaspoons of sugar per day

1 teaspoon of sugar has 16 calories

therefore

A person drinking 1 can of soft drink per day has a sugar-based calorific intake of 5,600 calories per day

A person drinking 1 bottle of soft drink per day has a sugar-based calorific intake of 16,960 calories per day

With this in mind I think I would like to say that the beverage industry commissioned the report from Mahidol and didn't pay enough to get decent statistics or intepretation of data.

Then explain this please. I am 65 and have since I was 18 consumed 2-4 Liters of carbonated sodas every day. The high liquid intake is due to a malfunction o my body's liquid level. I am around 1,75 tall and weigh 70kg, have never been more. With your reasoning, I should be massively overweight which I am not. I am also in good physical shape with regards to my age. Oh, and I also take three teaspoons of sugar with my tea.

Sodas are not a main cause of obese children here. Look where these children eat and what. I doubt very much their main diet is traditional thai food.

Once again we go to where people eat. There is 66,000,000 Thais in Thailand. some how I find it hard to believe they are all eating at fast food franchises. Even if they were long before KFC came along they were eating fried chicken. Perhaps the farongs are the cause with there incessant drive to westernize the Thais. You know what I mean don't go out and play soccer play with your electronic gadget.

I had to throw that in there as no one else is mentioning it and where do they get it from.

[KhunHehe]

What about the sweets, candies, etc., sold everywhere....I think a quarter of the Thai population makes a living form making/selling deserts/sweets. But no, let's tax the big companies more; not mom & pop operations.

YEAH. Let's tax EVERYONE...hehe.

It must be the sugar. Everyone exercises, and noone deep fries. What else could it be?

Edited February 13, 2013 by KhunHehe

[KhunHehe]

What about the sweets, candies, etc., sold everywhere....I think a quarter of the Thai population makes a living form making/selling deserts/sweets. But no, let's tax the big companies more; not mom & pop operations.

Yeah. Let's tax EVERYONE...hehe.

It must be the sugar. What else could it be? Everyone exercises, and noone deep fries.

[tropo]

"And I too, refuse to drink non diet drinks. Even though it's still not good for you, lesser of two evils unfortunately"

You best reread my statement I said I would have a Coke Zero with mine. In fact at home I drink Pepsi Max.

Don't get him started ......It will prompt a discussion on how diet sodas will make you fatter than sugared drinks...

I hardly ever drink sodas, but when I do I'll have some Coke Zero. I'll save my sugar allowance for some chocolate or cake. Normally I sweeten with stevia.

Edited February 13, 2013 by tropo

[backtonormal]

Wanna bet the sugar tycoons are against this too

Wanna bet that this is an attack on the sugar Thaicoons. $th richet man in Thailand is a sugar man and its a fair bet he donates to the PAD. I feel just like rice exporters, Thaksin is finding a legal way to bring down them all. The other day it was sweeping changes to the curriculum, another tool used primarily to indoctrinated children with nonsense (thainess). I would watch the transport, media and construction industries. OOPs after thought, is the chappie Paiboon who won the contract to construct a zillion police stations another amart face. Keep it up Thaksin

[backtonormal]

Of course they could just let the domestic sugar price float to the global price. it's capped here.

In essence no one is going to be allowed to screw with thai namthip(coke), singha, and the sugar industry in Thailand. They are tooooo powerful.

Are powerful now but for how much longer. Wait til Thaksin allows in foreign beers by the boatload and makes them competively priced based on having the same alcohol content. Brick by brick hes bringing the houe down

[backtonormal]

Of course they could just let the domestic sugar price float to the global price. it's capped here.

In essence no one is going to be allowed to screw with thai namthip(coke), singha, and the sugar industry in Thailand. They are tooooo powerful.

Are powerful now but for how much longer. Wait til Thaksin allows in foreign beers by the boatload and makes them competively priced based on having the same alcohol content. Brick by brick hes bringing the house down

[Thai at Heart]

Wanna bet the sugar tycoons are against this too

Wanna bet that this is an attack on the sugar Thaicoons. $th richet man in Thailand is a sugar man and its a fair bet he donates to the PAD. I feel just like rice exporters, Thaksin is finding a legal way to bring down them all. The other day it was sweeping changes to the curriculum, another tool used primarily to indoctrinated children with nonsense (thainess). I would watch the transport, media and construction industries. OOPs after thought, is the chappie Paiboon who won the contract to construct a zillion police stations another amart face. Keep it up Thaksin

Do you know which organization is a major shareholder in Thai namthip?

[Thai at Heart]

Of course they could just let the domestic sugar price float to the global price. it's capped here.

In essence no one is going to be allowed to screw with thai namthip(coke), singha, and the sugar industry in Thailand. They are tooooo powerful.

Are powerful now but for how much longer. Wait til Thaksin allows in foreign beers by the boatload and makes them competively priced based on having the same alcohol content. Brick by brick hes bringing the house down

They will pay to bring out the army if he messes with it too much.

[rotorbreeze]

Next time you see me walking around with a bulging brown paper bag in

my hand, it's not booze, it will probably be a can of sweetened soda i got

illegally,

Just take a minute and watch this video.

It's mind blowing!!!!!

youtube.com/watch?v=F10EyGwd57M

type in www. at the beginning

good stuff, just to get the diabetics to know what sugar is doing to ones insulin levels, my friend I saw today with Bottle of fruit juice..da it has pomegranate and blueberries...and now I have given up drinking coke...du same stuff sugar..my friends father died from being a Diabetic and now he thinks drinking cartons of marked juice is his way around sugar! What a idiot, there is more sugar in the so called healthy fruit juice than coke! My cravings after a workout is a simple orange..the expensive ones..big ones...aw nice taste and top it off with bottled water..the high alkaline brand. recommend Singha best as I have tested the rest and this one is best. I would like to see more health news..forget all the rest of the shit happening around...one should focus on one's well being...the rest of the world will spoil in it's ignorance. My Peace I leave with you and peace be with you..Mr. Ron

[hellodolly]

Wanna bet the sugar tycoons are against this too

Wanna bet that this is an attack on the sugar Thaicoons. $th richet man in Thailand is a sugar man and its a fair bet he donates to the PAD. I feel just like rice exporters, Thaksin is finding a legal way to bring down them all. The other day it was sweeping changes to the curriculum, another tool used primarily to indoctrinated children with nonsense (thainess). I would watch the transport, media and construction industries. OOPs after thought, is the chappie Paiboon who won the contract to construct a zillion police stations another amart face. Keep it up Thaksin

Do you know which organization is a major shareholder in Thai namthip?

I don't even know what Thai namthip is, Is it important to the subject at hand?

[Thai at Heart]

Wanna bet the sugar tycoons are against this too

Wanna bet that this is an attack on the sugar Thaicoons. $th richet man in Thailand is a sugar man and its a fair bet he donates to the PAD. I feel just like rice exporters, Thaksin is finding a legal way to bring down them all. The other day it was sweeping changes to the curriculum, another tool used primarily to indoctrinated children with nonsense (thainess). I would watch the transport, media and construction industries. OOPs after thought, is the chappie Paiboon who won the contract to construct a zillion police stations another amart face. Keep it up Thaksin

Do you know which organization is a major shareholder in Thai namthip?

I don't even know what Thai namthip is, Is it important to the subject at hand?

They bottle coke, make other soft drinks and bottled water.

[Rosco911]

Just take a minute and watch this video.

It's mind blowing!!!!!

youtube.com/watch?v=F10EyGwd57M

type in www. at the beginning

Thats scarry.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Just take a minute and watch this video.

It's mind blowing!!!!!

youtube.com/watch?v=F10EyGwd57M

type in www. at the beginning

Thank you for posting this.

I will definitely be showing it to my children when they get home from school !

It actually said 39g of carbohydrate and not sugar on the label. Why is this significant? because 26g of this is in the form of a cheaper sugar substitute called high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) - this is much WORSE than sucrose in that it will make you put weight on faster than sugar does and is probably responsible for the massive upsurge in type 2 diabetes cases in the world today!! In the past 2 months two of my friends (both aged around 50) have become diabetic.

One of the two 'said' friends was taking me back to the airport to fly back to Thailand and I noticed that he was slurping on a diet coke. I said to him "I don't think you should be drinking that considering you've recently been pronounced as being diabetic" and he retorted "it's OK as it's diet coke" - WRONG!!! Diet drinks are even worse than standard 'sugary' ones as they will force you to put the weight on even faster as the effects of aspartame (artificial sweetener) apart from being toxic, adversely affect the storage of the dangerous fat visceral fat so will send you that much nearer to the heart attack awaiting in the wings ready to pounce.

[SICHONSTEVE]

Just take a minute and watch this video.

It's mind blowing!!!!!

youtube.com/watch?v=F10EyGwd57M

type in www. at the beginning

Thank you for posting this.

I will definitely be showing it to my children when they get home from school !

It actually said 39g of carbohydrate and not sugar on the label. Why is this significant? because 26g of this is in the form of a cheaper sugar substitute called high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) - this is much WORSE than sucrose in that it will make you put weight on faster than sugar does and is probably responsible for the massive upsurge in type 2 diabetes cases in the world today!! In the past 2 months two of my friends (both aged around 50) have become diabetic.

One of the two 'said' friends was taking me back to the airport to fly back to Thailand and I noticed that he was slurping on a diet coke. I said to him "I don't think you should be drinking that considering you've recently been pronounced as being diabetic" and he retorted "it's OK as it's diet coke" - WRONG!!! Diet drinks are even worse than standard 'sugary' ones as they will force you to put the weight on even faster as the effects of aspartame (artificial sweetener) apart from being toxic, adversely affect the storage of the dangerous fat visceral fat so will send you that much nearer to the heart attack awaiting in the wings ready to pounce.

Food #1 that HARMS your brain: Fructose

In a 2012 UCLA study published in the Journal of Physiology, researchers found that a diet high in fructose over time can damage your memory and learning ability.

Beyond the harm to your brain, it's well known in the research world that a high fructose diet can also cause insulin resistance in your body over time, and possibly lead to type-2 diabetes and extra body fat. If that's not enough, a high fructose diet also detrimentally affects your triglyceride levels in your blood as well as small dense LDL particles that cause plaque in your arteries.

So what we have here is high-fructose intake = impaired memory and learning in your brain, increased risk of diabetes, and increased risk of heart disease. Oh, and we forgot to mention extra belly fat too... Yum - who wants another can of soda pop or a large bowl of corn syrup sweetened ice cream!

The average person eating a modern western diet of processed food consumes a LARGE quantity of fructose without even thinking about it from all of the soft drinks (high fructose corn syrup typically), sweetened juice drinks, orange juice, processed junk foods such as cakes and candies, as well as the HFCS that's added to store-bought salad dressings, breads and cereals, and even condiments like ketchup.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!

Edited February 14, 2013 by SICHONSTEVE

[hellodolly]

Just take a minute and watch this video.

It's mind blowing!!!!!

youtube.com/watch?v=F10EyGwd57M

type in www. at the beginning

Thank you for posting this.

I will definitely be showing it to my children when they get home from school !

It actually said 39g of carbohydrate and not sugar on the label. Why is this significant? because 26g of this is in the form of a cheaper sugar substitute called high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) - this is much WORSE than sucrose in that it will make you put weight on faster than sugar does and is probably responsible for the massive upsurge in type 2 diabetes cases in the world today!! In the past 2 months two of my friends (both aged around 50) have become diabetic.

One of the two 'said' friends was taking me back to the airport to fly back to Thailand and I noticed that he was slurping on a diet coke. I said to him "I don't think you should be drinking that considering you've recently been pronounced as being diabetic" and he retorted "it's OK as it's diet coke" - WRONG!!! Diet drinks are even worse than standard 'sugary' ones as they will force you to put the weight on even faster as the effects of aspartame (artificial sweetener) apart from being toxic, adversely affect the storage of the dangerous fat visceral fat so will send you that much nearer to the heart attack awaiting in the wings ready to pounce.

Food #1 that HARMS your brain: Fructose

In a 2012 UCLA study published in the Journal of Physiology, researchers found that a diet high in fructose over time can damage your memory and learning ability.

Beyond the harm to your brain, it's well known in the research world that a high fructose diet can also cause insulin resistance in your body over time, and possibly lead to type-2 diabetes and extra body fat. If that's not enough, a high fructose diet also detrimentally affects your triglyceride levels in your blood as well as small dense LDL particles that cause plaque in your arteries.

So what we have here is high-fructose intake = impaired memory and learning in your brain, increased risk of diabetes, and increased risk of heart disease. Oh, and we forgot to mention extra belly fat too... Yum - who wants another can of soda pop or a large bowl of corn syrup sweetened ice cream!

The average person eating a modern western diet of processed food consumes a LARGE quantity of fructose without even thinking about it from all of the soft drinks (high fructose corn syrup typically), sweetened juice drinks, orange juice, processed junk foods such as cakes and candies, as well as the HFCS that's added to store-bought salad dressings, breads and cereals, and even condiments like ketchup.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!!

All I know for sure is that I consume about 2 liters a night of Pepsi Max and three liters a day of water and over the last two years I have lost 25 kilos. My weight has stabilized where it is now for 3 or 4 months and I am hoping that it will start it's down hill trend again. As it is now I do not have to diet to keep it there. I will however make some changes in it, While I have no intention of stopping the Pepsi Max I might drink it during the day as opposed to at night. I know the caffeine in it is not a good idea at night. Back in Canada I could get diet Pepsi with no caffeine.

I do have memory lapses but at 71 I am not sure it is all the fault of Pepsi Max. Coke Zero when Pepsi Max is not available. To many studies out there pick the one you want to follow. When first I was diagnosed with Diabetes I went on line with an open mind. I soon found that was a way to addle the mind. One study said this another the exact opposite. I finally gave up and have had no trouble. I do listen to peoples experience and try to take out of them what seems sensible to me. Disagreeable also.

For instance cod liver oil. I can remember my uncle when I was a youngster buying it by the case it came in bottles just like whiskey he was an all star in football and today at 79 is still in top shape. Of course he approaches things differently now. Where he used to drink it out of a bottle he now has some sort of scientific designed capsule to do it for him. He is also a devotee of the Atkins diet. Hard to argue with that one when you see the condition he is in. I ramble. enough

Any one know where I can purchase a bottle of cod liver oil?

[SICHONSTEVE]

If you do start taking CLO then bear this in mind that you might have to lower your dosage of warfarin as they both serve the function of thinning your blood down. Three tablespoons a day in combination with mixed tocopherols will do the same as warfarin (but without the many adverse side affects).

[rotary]

Is Yingluck working with Nancy Pelosi?

Nancy should be her maid in my opinion

[NeverSure]

How did this thread go from higher taxes on soft drinks imposed by a nanny state, to a discourse on diabetes, etc.?

If this thread was about higher fines and more imprisonment for the use of weed, the crowd would go ballistic saying it is none of the government's business, and that taxing or fining (same diff to me) users is outrageous.

Many talk about how they love the 'freedom' here as opposed to their home country.

No insults intended, but with all due respect, I'm surprise there's less outrage for more government intervention into private decisions.