BANGKOK, THAILAND – Thailand’s health authority and nine major drink brands sharply cut the sugar standard in popular coffee and tea beverages nationwide, halving the sugar content in drinks ordered as “normal sweet.”
New default for “normal sweet” drinks
The cooperation between the Department of Health and large chains such as Café Amazon, Inthanin, All Café, Black Canyon, PunThai and Chao Doi introduced unified rules for reduced-sugar standard beverages. Instead of asking customers to actively cut back, the previous “normal sweet” default was redefined so that the sugar content in standard orders was automatically halved.
Behavioral economics to shift daily habits
The measure used principles of behavioral economics by resetting the default sugar level to influence ordering habits without adding extra steps for consumers. According to the authority, the earlier “normal sweet” level often exceeded recommended health guidelines and contributed to excessive sugar intake, weight gain and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
Specific cuts in coffee and Thai iced tea
A typical 16-ounce iced coffee of 473 millilitres that previously contained about 7.3 teaspoons of sugar at full sweetness was expected under the new standard to contain only around 3.7 teaspoons. A similar approach was taken for Thai iced tea, which, instead of roughly 6.6 teaspoons, was now served as “normal sweet” with about 3.3 teaspoons of sugar.
Health tips and adaptation period
In a post on its official Facebook page, the Department of Health listed five health benefits of lower sugar consumption that went beyond disease prevention.
“Sweetness receptors on the tongue renew themselves roughly every 14 days, so it is normal if a drink sweetened to 50 percent does not taste ‘so delicious’ at first,”
said the Department of Health, adding that it encouraged persistence during the adjustment period.