A key health group is at loggerheads with the beverages industry over proposed changes to the labelling of sports drinks.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is considering easing restrictions on the health claims manufacturers can use for their sports drinks, with public submissions closing next Tuesday.
Jane Martin, executive manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition (OPC), warns the new claims could mislead the public.
“These drinks are considered unhealthy overall in the average person’s diet,” Ms Martin told the ABC.
“At the moment, health claims cannot appear on products that are deemed unhealthy overall, and that relates to the nutrition of the products.
“So because these drinks are very high in sugar they fail to meet the cut-off to be allowed to carry health claims, and this is a call for an exemption.
“Presenting the impression that these products provide superior health benefits compared to water without providing any information about the high sugar content and the potential negative impacts of these drinks is misleading for consumers.”
But the Australian Beverages Council’s Geoff Parker said there were “thousands of studies” that clearly outlined the benefits of hydration using sports drinks.
“What manufacturers wanted to do was to tap into a whole lot of internationally recognised research and scientific studies which are out there, which start to flesh out some of the more detailed, functional benefits that electrolytes and sports drinks can actually make,” Mr Parker told the ABC.
“So some of their claims might be … that sports drinks hydrate better than water for intensive exercise, for example, or [that] sports drinks hydrate twice as fast as water for intensive exercise.
“Some of those types of claims, rather than [the claims that] sports drinks aid in hydration or [that] sports drinks rehydrate athletes faster.
“It’s really about going to the next level of detail around … the functional benefits of sports drinks.
“[That] then in turn allows manufacturers to look to do more product development, a little bit more innovation around increasing some of the functional benefits of sports drinks.
“If the manufacturers weren’t able to make those more advanced claims then there was really no purpose or benefit in innovating in any way.”
Health claims will assist consumers: Australian Beverages Council
Mr Parker said he was confident consumers would not buy unsuitable products as a result of the new claims.
“It’s something the industry is very open about – that these types of sports drinks are absolutely for people who engage in intensive exercise,” he said.
“These drinks are not suitable for a kids’ swimming carnival, when the eight-year-old only has to swim 25 metres. In most instances, water is absolutely the best drink for them.
“As a parent, it’s certainly my responsibility to understand what is the best drink for whatever occasion it might be for my 13-year-old.
“But, certainly, having the claims clearly stated on the labels we hope will assist consumers in making sure that particular type of sports drink is right for them.”
Mr Parker said the amount of sugar in the drinks was not a problem.
“A lot of the sports drinks do contain sugar, because they do need that baseload of sugar to deliver the hydration benefit,” he said.
“But they have these additional things like carbohydrates and electrolytes in there, which are only suitable for assisting with hydration for high-level athletes engaging in intensive exercise..
“The baseload of sugar is somewhere around 5 to 7 per cent to assist with hydration benefits and functional properties.
“Once that baseload of sugar starts to decrease, the benefits of hydration and better hydration start to fall away pretty rapidly.”
But Ms Martin said the health claims would be used as a marketing ploy for the industry.
“Health claims are incredibly powerful tools and people are very motivated to be healthy,” she said.
“And this is a product that’s widely available, it’s very popular.
“People will think they’re doing the right thing but they’ll be getting it with eight teaspoons of sugar.”
In February, FSANZ announced it would consider “to permit sports foods to carry health claims about physical performance and sport-related beneficial physiological effects and to enable electrolyte drinks to make self-substantiated health claims beyond current limited permissions”.
FSANZ said that, under the proposed changes, regulation would be moved to the Formulated Supplementary Sports Foods Standard because electrolyte drinks are a food related to physical performance.