Thailand moves to cut sugar in popular drinks amid health drive

A crowd of customers, holding phones aloft, watches as Auntie Nid mixes her bestseller: an iced Thai tea. Condensed milk is poured into a glass, followed by three heaped tablespoons of sugar, and then freshly strained tea. The deep orange, creamy drink is poured into a plastic bag filled with ice.

“I want to spoil my customers,” says Auntie Nid, 68, who prefers to be known by her nickname. The Thai government is trying to reduce the amount of sugar in the country’s most popular drinks. This month, nine of the country’s major coffee chains committed to halving the amount of sugar that is considered “normal sweetness” in some of their drinks as part of a campaign to reset people’s taste buds and improve public health.

Thai people consume an average of 21 teaspoons of sugar a day, far more than the World Health Organization’s recommended daily limit of six teaspoons, and sugary drinks have been a major culprit.

Thailand

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