Less sugar in muesli and yogurt
The amount of added sugar in yogurt and breakfast cereals has decreased. This is shown by a survey conducted by the FSVO. The reduction is the result of a voluntary commitment by companies that signed the Milan Declaration together with Federal Councilor Alain Berset. In it, the companies committed to reducing the amount of added sugar in yogurts and muesli by the end of 2018.
In the summer of 2017, the FSVO obtained and analyzed data from 461 sweetened yogurts and from 199 sweetened breakfast cereals. The present report shows by how much the added sugar in the yogurts and breakfast cereals of the participating companies has fallen. The result: Compared to the first survey in fall 2016, the proportion of added Sugar for yogurts by 3%. The average value for yogurts is therefore 9 grams of added sugar per 100 grams. For breakfast cereals, the amount of added sugar decreased by around 5 % compared to the previous survey and corresponds to an average of 16.3 grams per 100 grams. Yogurts and breakfast cereals, which were newly introduced by the participating companies between the two surveys, already have a significantly lower content of added sugar, i.e. an average of 7.9 grams per 100 grams.
It also shows that children's yogurts contain significantly less sugar on average (6.9 grams per 100 grams). In the case of breakfast cereals, on the other hand Children's products significantly more sugared. The muesli for children contain 24.6 grams of added sugar per 100 grams. In comparison, the products for adults have an average of 14.8 grams per 100 grams. In addition, almost every tenth müesli has no added sugar, but none of them is explicitly intended for children.
Further reduction targeted
The third survey on sugar is planned for the conclusion of the Milan Declaration at the end of 2018. By then, a further reduction of added sugar by an average of 2.5 % for yogurts and by an average of 5 % for breakfast cereals will be targeted compared to the present survey. In Switzerland, 40 kilograms of sugar are consumed per capita per year. This corresponds to around 110 g of sugar per day and more than double the amount recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Milan Declaration was signed by ten companies in Milan in 2015. Four more companies joined in 2017.
Report 2016 - Sugar in yogurt and breakfast cereals
Text: Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO)
Background info
The BLV led 2016 an initial inventory by (...) and analyzed data from a total of 348 sweetened yogurts (7 companies) and 186 sweetened breakfast cereals (9 companies). The data collected showed that yogurts in the Average 17 g sugar per cup (180 g) contained. The yogurt with the lowest sugar content contained 10g of sugar per cup, while the one with the highest contained 30.5g. Breakfast cereals contained an average of 18g of sugar per 100g, with the sugar content in extreme cases amounting to almost 50% of a product.
Many flavorings and a lot of sugar
Even supposedly "healthy yogurts" are sugar bombs
Editor's note
Especially the (much higher!) proportion of sugar types for so-called "children's products" is from health point of view extremely questionable and should be rigorously replaced by healthy types of sugar such as xylitol or stevia. Because sugar is addictive and is always harmful for the organism and decomposes in the mouth to form destructive acids, overacidifies the body, forms harmful alcohol in the intestines and destroys healthy intestinal flora. To name just a few effects.
