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Foundation sour on local yogurt

The John Tung Foundation holds a press conference yesterday warning consumers about the high levels of sugar in Taiwan's yogurt products. The sugar level in the product shown in the photo is said to be the equivalent to five and a half cubes. PHOTO: LEE HUNG-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

Drinking yogurt sold in Taiwan contains added sugar that makes up over 48 percent of the products' total calories on average, the Taiwan John Tung Foundation (董氏基金會) announced yesterday.

Established in 1984, the John Tung Foundation is known for its devotion to tobacco control and promoting mental health and good nutrition.

In a study released by the foundation yesterday, Sheu Hui-yu (許惠玉), director of the foundation's division of nutrition, warned that consumers should be aware of the amount of sugar added to drinking yogurt.

The study, conducted by the foundation in August, inspected 25 samples of different brands of locally-produced drinking yogurt.

For every 200g of drinking yogurt, nearly 30 percent of the samples contained over 20g of added sugar, equal to the amount of five and a half sugar cubes, and 70 percent contained sugar between 12g to 18g, equal to between three to four and a half sugar cubes.

The products that contain sweetener rather than sugar were Yoplait (優沛蕾) and Hay Song LGG drinking Yogurt (黑松).

In addition, the foundation also pointed out that the amount of added sugar in over 90 percent of the samples accounts for over 40 percent of the total calories of a product.

According to Chao Chen-jui (趙振瑞), professor of the department of Healthcare and Nutrition at Taipei Medical University, yogurt is supposed to be beneficial because it not only retains the nutrients found in milk such as calcium but also contains friendly intestinal bacteria which can keep harmful bacteria in check.

"However, yogurt producers in Taiwan add a lot of sugar in their products in order to make yogurt more tasty. These products should not be taken as a proper substitute for milk," Chao said, stressing that liquid yogurt should not be considered a nutritious drink since the sugar content is so high.

"Some consumers thought that plain drinking yogurt contains less fat and sugar compared to flavored brands, but our findings show that the sugar added to plain drinking yogurt sometimes even exceeds flavored ones," Sheu said.

The foundation also urged the yogurt producers to make drinking yogurt that is "genuinely plain" -- without adding sugar or artificial flavoring -- so that consumers would have the right to choose brands that are good for their health.

"We are not here to challenge the yogurt producers but to tell the public how to consume yogurt properly," said Yeh Jing-chuan (葉金川), the director of the foundation.

In a bid to enable consumers to enjoy yogurt without taking in excessive sugar, the foundation advised consumers to either make yogurt at home with milk, yogurt and culture, or to dilute sweetened yogurt by adding milk.

Currently, the Department of Health (DOH) does not have a regulation that stipulates the amount of sugar allowed in yogurt.

The department has categorized various brands of drinking yogurt as health food because they have been proven to contain friendly intestinal bacterial such as lactobacillus, acidophilus, and bifidus which are beneficial to human health, to DOH official Shen Han-kuan (沈漢光) said.

"To avoid consuming excessive sugar, consumers should pay attention to the amount of carbohydrates on the nutritional label [on the bottle]," he said.

Shen said the standard daily amount of carbohydrates a person should consume is 320g.
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