Dunk that cola


INDIA EDITOR’S CHOICE

Dunk that cola
Anita Jain India editor, BMJ

Mumbai

The “God” takes guard for the last time this week, and cricket
will never be the same again. As India gets ready to bid adieu
to its “Little Master” Sachin Tendulkar, the emotional
outpouring reinforces the impression that cricketers make on
the minds of young and older people alike.
Commercial endorsements by cricketers are a tricky terrain to
navigate. Earlier this year, teams in the Indian Premier League
were pulled up for promotion of alcohol brands in contravention
of national advertising rules (doi:10.1136/bmj.f3303). As
Monika Arora, senior director of HRIDAY (Health Related
Information Dissemination Amongst Youth) explains, “. . .
associating alcohol with cricket in any form would promote
alcohol use among Indians, especially [young people] who are
at an impressionable age. Such direct advertising also sends out
a message that alcohol use is an acceptable societal norm as
famous cricketers are seen to be endorsing that alcohol brand.”
I wonder what might be said about promotion of soft drinks by
cricketers though. Easily one of the largest sponsors for cricket
in the country, the soft drinks industry has grown unchecked.
In the latest BMJ poll on regulation of India’s soft drinks
industry, an overwhelming majority concur: not enough is being
done. Ruling on a petition to regulate misleading advertising of
soft drinks, particularly those targeted at children, the Supreme
Court directed the Food and Safety Standards Authority of India
to ensure greater enforcement of regulations in the larger interest
of “protection of human life and health” (doi:10.1136/bmj.
f6519).
Indeed, in an article that grabbed attention worldwide, Aseem
Malhotra calls for us to train the guns on sugar in foods and
beverages as it quickly emerges as an independent risk factor
for the metabolic syndrome (doi:10.1136/bmj.f6340). For too
long, he argues, saturated fat has been vilified for its role in
cardiovascular diseases, leading to unnecessary treatment and

unsubstantiated dietary advice. There was cause for a
mini-celebration at the BMJ as this was one of two scholarly
articles from the BMJ in the Altmetric High Five list of
newsworthy papers for October across publishers.
Speaking of saturated fat, palm oil has grown to be the dominant
cooking oil consumed by low and middle income populations.
Exploring the role of food taxes on consumption and health,
Sanjay Basu and colleagues use mathematical modelling and
find that a 20% tax on palm oil purchases in India would
substantially reduce cardiovascular deaths over a 10 year period
if it were not replaced by other oils (doi:10.1136/bmj.f6048).
Given that the success of palm oil lies in its relatively low price,
a tax would likely exacerbate food insecurity, however. In a
linked editorial (doi:10.1136/bmj.f6065), Bhavani Shankar and
Corina Hawkes draw attention to the popularity of palm oil
among manufacturers of processed foods as well. While taxation
may alter consumption by this industry, they suggest one must
be wary of a switch to another source of unhealthy fats—trans
fats. Indeed, the US Food and Drug Administration recently
determined that partially hydrogenated oils, the primary source
of artificial trans fats in processed foods, may not be safe. Once
finalised, new guidelines will make it more difficult for
manufacturers to include trans fats in processed foods (doi:10.
1136/bmj.f6749).
As you sit back and watch Tendulkar blazing (fingers crossed)
in his last match, I encourage you to chuck the cola and crisps,
and go for a plate of fruit instead (doi:10.1136/bmj.f5001).

Follow Anita Jain on Twitter @ajain247

Cite this as: BMJ 2013;347:f6838
© BMJ Publishing Group Ltd 2013

ajain@bmj.com

For personal use only: See rights and reprints http://www.bmj.com/permissions Subscribe: http://www.bmj.com/subscribe

BMJ 2013;347:f6838 doi: 10.1136/bmj.f6838 (Published 14 November 2013) Page 1 of 1

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