Thread by @bopinion

Starting in 2020, Singapore will treat packaged sugary drinks such as Coca-Cola the way that other countries treat cigarettes.

But the measures won’t be enough to treat its obesity epidemic bloom.bg/2BgDmwn

Diabetes and heart disease is plaguing Southeast Asia and it’s getting worse, quickly. Between 2010 and 2014, obesity surged:

🇸🇬24% Singapore
🇲🇾27% Malaysia
🇻🇳38% Vietnam bloom.bg/2BgDmwn

Singapore is:

🚫Banning adverts for sugary drinks
🏷️Making labels highlighting unhealthiness mandatory bloom.bg/2BgDmwn

As incomes have risen and Asia’s middle classes settle in cities, eaters have shifted away from traditional starch-based diets and toward food:

🍡Rich in fat, protein, dairy and sugar
🥫Packaged and processed bloom.bg/2BgDmwn

🍢Local foods that used to pose minimal health risks when consumed in moderation are now creating big problems.

The cheap fried snacks emblematic of Malaysian street food are now helping to make the nation one of the fattest in Asia bloom.bg/2BgDmwn

Then there’s sugar. 🇹🇭In Thailand, daily sugar intake has increased rapidly:

🥄1997: 19 teaspoons a day
🥄2019: 28 teaspoons a day

The World Health Organization recommends limiting sugar intake to 12 teaspoons at the most bloom.bg/2BgDmwn

⚕️The health effects have been severe:

- Southeast Asia now accounts for 20% of all diabetics globally
- Obesity-related ailments eat up as much as 15% of Indonesia’s health-care spending, and 19% of Malaysia’s bloom.bg/2BgDmwn

Singapore’s plan to ban ads and mandate labelling makes sense, but if the government really wants results it should:

💸Tax manufacturers and consumers
📒Invest in public education

It won't be cheap, but the improved quality of life will be worth it bloom.bg/2BgDmwn