With Géraldine Zamansky, journalist for the Health magazine on France 5, we are talking today about this idea that American researchers had to encourage consumers to reduce their sugar intake. You know those awesome photos of black lungs, badly damaged teeth, on cigarette packets, for disgust smokers. VShe researchers tested the same idea on sugary drinks.
franceinfo: Is it serious? These researchers have created new packaging to alert consumers?
Geraldine Zamansky: Almost. Above all, they created a small supermarket-laboratory. And when the study participants arrived at the beverage aisle, they discovered impressive photos of all the ones that contained a lot of sugar. One shows a foot blackened by gangrene. With a caption explaining that excessive drinks containing added sugars increase the risk of diabetes.
And gangrene is indeed one of the terrible complications of type 2 diabetes, that linked to a diet that is too rich, combined with a lack of physical activity. The other photo shows another potential victim of this diabetes: a heart. But not a pretty drawing. No, a real heart, fresh from an autopsy. With an explicit legend about the endangerment of this vital organ.
They have brought out the heavy artillery! And was it effective?
Yes, to know it obviously, there were as many people, 160 with the same social and cultural diversity, who went to this fake supermarket. And this time, simple barcode labels were added to the bottles.
Result, without shock photos, nearly half of the participants took a sugary drink. But facing the all-black foot or the heart, there were less than one in three. And in this sweet subgroup, the choice was lower in calories. Above all, by completing a questionnaire, 73% of parents exposed to these images found that it helped them make a good decision for the health of their children. They were going to serve them less of this type of drink now.
Should we come to this to reduce obesity, which now also affects our population, including children? Is it not just an American problem anymore?
The authors of this study support it. But these images are really hard for young children to bear if they stay on the bottle. Would less violent but informative drawings be needed to warn about all the sodas? Without forgetting the fruit juices which are also very sweet?
In any case, this seems unlikely in the near future. Because faced with resistance from the agri-food industry, our authorities have not even made the Nutri-score compulsory, you know, this code in letters and colors, to direct us towards foods rated “A” and green, rather than “E” and red. Even if it has limits, this code has nevertheless already caused the sales of these “dunces” to fall at the dietary level! This is why the industry is resisting!
>>> To read
The study
Eat Move
Nutri-Score report