EDITORIAL

Bajans are some of the sweetest people in the world! Just take a look at the sugar content of our more popular choices of beverages.

 

The information provided by President of the Healthy Caribbean Coalition Sir Trevor Hassell earlier this week revealed some startling facts, including that some drinks contained as much as ten tablespoons of sugar!

 

This fact is indeed worrying, especially when considering that many persons consume at least one soda per day, several even drinking as much as three, one during each meal as yes, there are some who on a regular basis have a “soft drink” for breakfast along with a sugary or savory pastry.

 

We are sweetly setting ourselves up for the pain of a chronic disease, whether diabetes, cancer or the various complications that come with obesity.

 

With a growing health bill and many citizens, including some of their own consumers, developing such illnesses, it may be time local manufacturers of soft drinks to fully embrace the national responsibility of reducing the sugar in these drinks as recommended by Hassell.   

 

With Banks Holdings Limited pointing out that Barbadians prefer their drinks to be extra sweet as they have consistently chosen these ones above those offerings with low-sugar content, we must consider whether this privilege of choice is reason enough not to protect the population from its growing health problems. The harsh reality is that it may now come down to a case of saving us from ourselves.

 

 

Why can’t we use less sugar?

 

More than one visitor has commented on the high amount of sugar in these drinks compared to those back in their international countries. For those of us who have traveled to the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom for example, can we really tell the difference between the taste of a soda there compared to here? There is hardly any difference in taste, so if they can do it with less sugar, why can’t we?

 

But why only stop there? How about looking into the foods provided by other manufacturers, including bakeries, to experiment and see whether they could cut down on their sweetness on their main products line. How about getting restaurants to lower the amount of salt they add to flavour foods?

 

Most research has shown that it takes on average three weeks for a person’s taste palate to change, so by gradually decreasing the sugar and sodium content overtime, the Barbadian population will become accustomed to healthier eating.

 

We all know that this tiny 166-square mile island is considered the amputation capital of the world with a significant amount of persons over the age of 40 falling into the diabetes category and with a growing number of children now being diagnosed with this illness and childhood obesity on the rise as well, steps must be taken to protect this nation’s future.