Monday, 07 December 2009

• The HK Yakult Controversy: Defining "HIGH IN SUGAR"

  By coincidence, my previous post on probiotic yogurt drinks was posted just a few weeks after a Hong Kong newspaper apparently published that Yakult has a higher sugar content than other beverages. Several people mentioned this to me, but I couldn't find any articles on it except for this one from the China Post.

  This is a perfect example of how people can misinterpret health information and blow things completely out of proportion. People are running around calling Yakult unhealthy and saying that you shouldn't drink it because it's high in sugar. According to Wikipedia, Yakult contains 18g of sugar per 100g of Yakult. This proportion is higher than soda pop. However, Yakult is not consumed in large cans/bottles like soda pops and juices! A Yakult bottle ranges from 65-100mL! The actual TOTAL sugar content only comes to around 10-13g of sugar. What about coke? Coke is consumed in 355mL cans or 20oz bottles. Heck, I've seen people drink out of the 2L bottles!

   = 11g sugar = (approx. 1 tablespoon)

  = 24g sugar =

    = 37g sugar =

  = 65g sugar =

  Which do you think is the GREATER HEALTH CONCERN? (So stop pointing the big bad finger at Yakult now please! I would worry about the milk tea and lemon tea often served in HK tea houses too!) Make sure to look at total serving size and product size! Don't be fooled by the way the media may phrase things.

  Yakult bottles are much smaller and are packed with billiions of good bacteria. Yogurts generally need sugar to counteract the sourness of the probiotics. Even something like orange juice can have around 20-24g of sugar per 1 cup. However, yogurts and juice are still part of Canada's Food Guide as they are high in nutrients (eg. calcium, vitamin D, Vitamin C, probiotics, etc.) - although health professionals still recommend real fruit over the choice of fruit juices.

  Chocolate milk is under huge controversy right now. One of my professors said that many health professionals disagree with chocolate milk being promoted to children due to its high sugar content (around 25g of sugar per 1 cup). But this is an important time for children to grow and they require calcium. Skim milk and low-fat milk may not appeal to them as much. This is obesity vs. bone health!

  I feel that people might read something in a newspaper and think it is extremely true, when in reality, it's not. In the case of Yakult, I believe the newspaper wrote it in a certain way to produce a greater sales volume. Either that or people are really only willing to read the first few lines of a newspaper article and then immediately make impulsive conclusions from it. At the bottom of the China Post article, it also says:

  • "Yakult has passed national standards and was qualified by the Taiwan Dept. of Health as health food, which will not jeopardize people's health"
  • "Yakult also conducted several tests to ensure the level of sugar in the product will not cause consumers to develop diabetes or any chronic diseases."

  I find it crazy how word of mouth can be spread around in Hong Kong so quickly. It becomes like a game of telephone where people don't even repeat the correct information anymore! Somebody commented on my previous post saying that a Yakult bottle has 8 spoons of sugar in it. However, a "spoon" isn't even a standard measure. It doesn't tell me anything! Is it Papa Bear's biggie spoon, Mama Bear's medium size spoon, or Little Bear's spoon that was "juuust right"?

  Even if you said something is "high in sugar", do you actually know the maximum amount of sugar that you should be having per day? There are no guidelines/recommendations on it since sugars on the nutrition facts label also include those naturally present in milk (lactose) and fruit (fructose).

  The general guidelines are to limit added simple sugars (those found in pop, sweets, processed foods, etc.) The USDA estimated the maximum amount of sugar intake one should have per day based on calorie intake. For a 2000 calorie diet:
  Maximum daily intake of added sugars: 32g
  The average American's consumption of added sugars: 84g

  But anyway, the moral of this story is that I dislike it when facts get misinterpreted and blown out of proportion. I still support the consumption of probiotic yogurt drinks in moderation. Stop being afraid of a teeny tiny 65mL bottle. There are bigger and more obvious health concerns out there like soda pop.

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