The companies Coca-Cola and Pepsi have announced that they will reduce the amount of sugar in their drinks for the French market. The companies have decided to limit the ads targeting kids.
These top soda manufacturers have come to a unanimous decision that the amount of sugar in their products needs to be limited. For now this change will only apply to markets in France.
Along with them, Orangina Schweppes and the juice bottling company Refresco Gerber have also signed an agreement to lower the amount of sugar in their drinks by 5% as early as next year.
"Keeping in mind that soft drinks comprise 6-8% of sugar intake, the industry plays a key role in improving the food quality for French consumers, " announced reps from the Ministry of Agriculture in France.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi have also decided to limit the amount of TV and Internet advertisements directed at kids by 35%.
These changes have to do with the politics of healthy eating, which have been ongoing since 2011 in France. 3 years ago there were strict regulations put in place, which tracked the ingredients found in the foods sold at school cafeterias.
The reason for the tough measures on the part of the French government were studies that proved that obesity levels have doubled in the country in the past 20 years.
From 5.8% in 1990, the amount of people with this problem increased to 12.9% in 2010. And yet, the French are not among the fattest nations in Europe.
The nationalities that are becoming obese in Europe are the Greeks, Romanians, Serbians, Czechs and Bulgarians. In Western Europe, the highest statistics of overweight people were seen in the British.
The study showed that each French person consumed 17 gal (65 L) of soft drinks per year. For Europe, the average amount of soft drinks drunk per person per year was 25 gal (95 L).
Coca-Cola products comprise 55% of the French market, fruit juices - 28%, and lemonade and other similar goods - 7.5%.
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