Drinks with a high sugar content are becoming more popular. The increased availability of such sugar-based beverages and aggressive marketing are the primary reasons for this trend. As for the measures, promoting healthy alternatives and regulations regarding marketing campaigns can be workable solutions to stop this trend from happening.
Today, many people enjoy a variety of beverages that contain sugar, as they taste mouth-watering. This tendency can mainly be attributed to the widespread availability and affordability of sugar-based drinks. Many types of soft drinks can be found in every part of the world, including the most popular ones, such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, highly marketed sugar-based drinks often with celebrity endorsement. This increased availability makes it enjoyable for people to drink such unhealthy beverages regularly. In this case, considerably affordable prices of soft drinks can play a part in encouraging the public to purchase more. For example, in a certain province of Mexico, the cost of Coca-Cola is much cheaper than freshwater due to the shortage of natural water, simply leaving people with no other option to buy such fizzy drinks. Moreover, aggressive marketing and advertising are other significant factors in this case. Put simply, different types of beverages with sugar content are always advertised, especially by well-known figures, a fact that often links these soft drinks with holidays, the New Year in particular, thus making people impulsive to sugar drink.
Turning to the solutions, promoting healthy alternatives could be effective in making people drink sugar-based drinks less. People usually have a choice of beverage and they need to be educated about the differences between healthy and unhealthy beverages. To do this, the government should implement several educational programs promoting healthier options. Take the example of tea, a type of drink often consumed in Asian countries as it is also a part of cultural practice in many of these countries. More specifically, most people in my country, Uzbekistan, drink what is known as kuk chay which does not contain sugar. This natural beverage has also health implications, meaning it can be used as a treatment for reducing high blood pressure and relieving stress in most cases. Increasing public awareness about the possible health-related issues of sugar-based beverages with educational and exemplary methods could potentially address the problem efficiently. Another viable solution is the regulations, certain standards and taxes on beverage industry companies. In other words, there should be a set of limits restricting soft drink companies to produce highly sugar-based beverages. In this sense, beverage companies have to ensure that their products are under the norms set by regulatory policies, otherwise, they should be levied if not comply with such limits. With these measurements, people can be encouraged to adopt healthier lifestyles with a moderate sugar intake.
In conclusion, the reasons for having more sugar-based beverages are the increased availability of such drinks and different marketing strategies and advertising campaigns. To address this issue, individuals should be urged to opt for healthier alternatives, such as tea, and limitations and fines on beverage companies can be feasible solutions.