Tempting display: Tan arranging drinks in his shop refrigerator in Ayer Itam, Penang. — ZHAFARAN NASIB/The Star
GEORGE TOWN: Sugar-sweetened beverages will cost more in two months’ time as Malaysia’s war on sugar goes up a notch, but dieticians say the uncontrolled intake of carbohydrates is a bigger cause of diabetes.
“Some dishes aren’t even sweet, but they are loaded to the brim with carbohydrates,” dietician Lucas Lim said.
As such, he said the heavier sugar tax would be helpful but the battle to help Malaysians avoid diabetes is far from over.
Under Budget 2025, the excise duty for sugar-sweetened beverages will go up from 50sen to 90sen per litre starting Jan 1 next year.
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Lim said diabetes is due to the overall consumption of carbohydrates from grains, rice, noodles, bread, cakes and even fruits and milk.
“Our bodies break carbohydrates down into blood sugar, nothing else.
“Other factors like obesity and lack of health screening also increase the risk of diabetes, which becomes like a time bomb ticking inside us,” he said.
Given the dangers of uncontrolled diabetes and the rising rate of obesity among Malaysians, Lim urged the government to set aside funds for a large scale public awareness campaign on the disease instead of just imposing a higher sugar tax.
“Don’t just focus on sugar. Diabetes is also caused by calorie intakes and excessive fats in our everyday meals,” said Lim, who is an affiliate dietician to Kek Lok Si Charitable Hospital, Georgetown Specialists Hospital and TMC Fertility and Women’s Specialist Centre.
According to him, the higher sugar tax would be imposed only on ready-to-drink and factory-made beverages.
As such, he believed the tax could be ineffective as there were even sweeter drinks being sold at beverage outlets, food trucks and hawker centres.
Lim, 31, suggesting consuming sugary foods and drinks in reasonable amounts to satisfy one’s sweet tooth instead of indulging excessively on a “cheat day”.
He advised consumers to be more alert about nutrition labels of packaged food which would indicate the amount of sugars and carbohydrates.
Malaysia first introduced the tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in July 2019 at 40sen per litre, which applies to ready-to-drink packaged beverages that contain more than 5g of sugar per 100ml.
Under Budget 2024, there was another 10sen increase, meaning that it went up from 40sen to 50sen per litre.
Checks by The Star on drinks sold at mini markets found that many ready-to-drink packaged beverages are exempted from the tax as their sugar content was below the threshold.
Sundry shop owner Tan Chiew Beng, 40, said almost 95% of the sweetened beverages that he sells contained less than 5g of sugar per 100ml.
“Many drink manufacturers have turned their products into ‘low sugar’ variations. Most of these drinks contain between 4.7g and 4.9g of sugar per 100ml.
“For drinks which are over that limit, yes, they cost 10% more since last year,” he said.
