U.K. Food, Beverage Companies Slash Calories

Coca-Cola and Mars are among the firms that have signed the Responsibility Deal to help lower obesity in England.

March 27, 2012

LONDON - Seventeen companies, including Tesco, Mars and Coca-Cola, have agreed to slash calories as part of an initiative to reduce obesity in the United Kingdom, Sky News reports. The firms signed the Responsibility Deal, a government program designed to lower obesity rates in Britain.

Coca-Cola Great Britain has promised to slash calories by 30% in some of its sodas by 2014. Mars will lower the number of calories in its chocolate bars from 260 to 250 by 2013. Tesco will increase its offerings of low-calorie meals and reduce calories by 1.8 billion in its sodas.

Despite the promises, some health care experts are not pleased with the results. "This translates to, for every individual, cutting down on 16 dry roasted peanuts per day. So the public can think for themselves, do they really think this is going to impact on a massive public health disaster? It's the food and drink industry paying lip service to the government, said Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist.

"I think the impact of this will be absolutely negligible. What needs to be introduced is legislation. I think legislation that has an impact. The Prime Minister has an open goal to show he is a man of substance who cares more about our children's health than the profits of food manufacturers," said Malhotra.

But Dr. Susan Jebb, who chairs the Responsibility Deal Food Network, countered that this program and the commitments from food and beverage companies to lower calorie counts in their products is an "important element of an overall strategy to tackle obesity. We've got really solid commitments today, we have got to give time to see if those really pan out. We need more companies to come on board too. There may be a place for regulation but it would be in parallel with, attacking other elements of the problem. I think voluntary agreements have to be given an opportunity to work."

In the United States, beverage companies have recently launched or expanded lines of low-calories products, such as Dr Pepper Ten, Pepsi Next and Miller64.

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