Amid Bournvita row, Zerodha's Nithin Kamath says fat, sugar per serving in front of package is desirable

Health drink brand Bournvita has been in the news past few days after a social media influencer claimed that Cadbury’s age-old health drink has a high sugar content. The video went viral following which Mondelez India-owned company on Monday denied the influencer’s charges and said the influencer’s video was "unscientific" as it "distorted facts and made false and negative inferences". 

Giving his two cents on the raging health issue,  Zerodha CEO and co-founder Nithin Kamath said that such products (health drinks) should have front-of-package food labelling. Without naming Bournvita or any other health drink, Kamath said drinks brands should have front-of-package food labelling, as FSSAI proposed in their 2018 draft paper indicating the fat and sugar content. 

"An intervention that could help people make healthier food & beverage choices is to have front-of-package food labelling, like FSSAI proposed in their 2018 draft paper," he tweeted. 

"Indicate fat, sugar, and salt per serving, and a warning if per serving percentage is beyond a percentage of the daily requirement," Kamath wrote. 

Kamath also said that food or drinks should be taken in moderation for healthy benefits. "Even the healthiest foods on the planet are healthy only when consumed in moderation," he said. 

An intervention that could help people make healthier food & beverage choices is to have front-of-package food labelling, like FSSAI proposed in their 2018 draft paper. Indicate fat, sugar, & salt per serving, & a warning if per serving % is beyond a % of daily requirement 1/3 pic.twitter.com/OqqhNge2OQ

On April 1, influencer Revant Himatsingka in his video claimed that Bournvita has high sugar, cocoa solids and cancer-causing colourant. He said that Bournvita’s tagline “tayyari jeet ki” should be changed to “tayyari diabetes ki.”.  

Following this, the company served a legal notice to Himatsingka, claiming that his video was misleading.  

Cadbury Bournvita in a statement on April 9 said that each serve of Bournvita contains 7.5 grams of added sugar, which is less than the daily recommended sugar intake for children.  

Himatsingka deleted his video and issued an apology to the company. Before the video was deleted, it racked up 12 million views and some versions of it are still doing the rounds on social media.  

A post shared by Revant Himatsingka (@foodpharmer)

In its statement, Bournvita said that over the last seven decades, it has earned the trust of consumers in India by being a scientifically formulated product that adheres to quality standards and complies with the laws of the land. 

A post shared by Cadbury Bournvita (@cadburybournvita)

“We would again like to reinforce that the formulation has been scientifically crafted by a team of nutritionists and food scientists to offer the best of taste and health. All our claims are verified and transparent and all ingredients have regulatory approvals. All the necessary nutritional information is mentioned on the pack for consumers to make informed choices," a Bournvita spokesperson was quoted by PTI. 

Assuring its users, Bournvita underscored that its formulation has been scientifically crafted by a team of nutritionists and food scientists to offer the best of taste and health. “All our claims are verified and transparent and all ingredients have regulatory approvals. All the necessary nutritional information is mentioned on the pack for consumers to make informed choices," it added. 

In its statement, it added that Bournvita is best consumed with a glass of 200 ml of hot or cold milk as highlighted in the pack. 

"All ingredients are safe, approved for use, and within permissible limits as per the regulatory guidelines," it said. 

Another claim 

A day after Himatsingka’s claim, another scientist and liver specialist, who goes by the name of The Liver Doc on Twitter, said that Cadbury's claim of Bournvita promoting muscle and bone growth, immunity enhancement, and brain development is “misleading because there are no controlled studies to support them”. 

In a Twitter thread, Dr Philips (The Liver Doc) said that Cadburys issued a statement that they have designed the product on a scientific basis, "which means there has to be published studies backing their claims". But the only published research that the liver doctor could find were those that supported Himatsingka's claims made in the now-deleted video. 

Among the four research papers that Dr Philips found, one showed that caffeine content in Bournvita was higher than in other similar cocoa-based products. 

Another study showed that Bournvita product changes color due to inherent changes in pH due to its "sugary" content. A third called the UNICEF-Cadbury partnership "sugarwashing." 

Instagram influencer, The FoodPharmer deleted his video, calling out the misleading information on Cadbury's Bounrvita product. Essentially, the product claimed improved brain activity, improved muscles, improved immune system and improved bone health. All of these require… pic.twitter.com/PkyDRxLlg4

Dr Philips in one of his tweets said that Bournvita’s claims of scientific methods or studies and the scientific evidence for everything that is written on the Bournvita product is not backed by good evidence. Hence, its claims are misleading on muscle and bone growth, immunity enhancement and brain development. 

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