An overabundance of sugar has provoked India’s industry body to begin a mission to urge Indians to eat more.
The Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA) said it needs to bust legends about sugar and its wellbeing impacts.
By and large, Indians eat around 19kg per year, which is well beneath the worldwide average.
All things considered, the nation is the world’s greatest shopper of sugar, generally speaking.
India’s creation is required to rise by 13% this year to 31m tons; however, the incumbent government has demonstrated that it may stop trade sponsorships pointed toward clearing surpluses.
ISMA’s new website includes short articles with titles, such as, “Eat, Drink and Be Healthy: A little sugar not all that bad.”
The online campaign likewise incorporates web-based media posts and workshops, where renowned celebrity chefs and wellbeing mentors examine healthy living.
It highlights plans for desserts, and trains in on fake sugars, proposing they don’t assist individuals with losing weight and can have wellbeing consequences.
At the launch of the website, India’s food secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told local media that sugar’s reputation is not deserved.
“There are a lot of myths going around about sugar and sugar consumption without scientific basis,” he said.
A healthy approach?
The campaign adopts an unmistakably unique strategy to crusades in different nations, which have pushed to decrease sugar consumption.
Sugar is related to a variety of medical issues, for example, obesity and diabetes. The World Health Organization (WHO) is especially worried about “free sugars” which are normally added to food and drink by manufacturers but at the same time are found in honey and natural fruit juice.
Trade sweetener
About 50 million farmers in India are occupied with sugar cane cultivation, with millions additionally working in factories with the transportation of sugar cane.
The administration has adopted an interventionist strategy, utilizing sponsorships to help sell Indian sugar abroad, a methodology that has been contradicted by other sugar-creating countries.
One other approach to dispose of overabundance sugar is to utilize it for fuel, by transforming it into ethanol.
The Indian Sugar Millers Association predicts ethanol production will increment from 1.9bn litres this year to 3bn litres in 2021.
