MUSCAT: The Ministry of Health, represented by the Directorate General of Primary Health Care (Directorate of Nutrition), in partnership with the World Health Organization office in the Sultanate of Oman, held the executive plan for the national strategy for nutrition in the reformulation of sweetened beverages.

The event was sponsored by His Excellency Dr Muhammad bin Saif Al Hosani, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for Health Affairs, in the presence of His Excellency Dr Jan Jabbour, representative of the World Health Organization in the Sultanate of Oman, and with the participation of various government agencies and the private sector specialised in the production of juices and soft drinks.

The importance of this meeting stems from being an initial stage for implementing the sugar reduction program with the aim of developing standards related to the level of sugar in sweetened drinks for local companies.

The meeting was followed by a workshop aimed at introducing the different sectors, including the producing companies, to the importance of re-installing food products, agreeing to reduce sugar levels in the targeted food products by defining the time period to work with, re-installing sugar-sweetened beverages produced or packaged locally, and developing the associated sugar reduction program with taxes.

In its role in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, WHO is guided by the Nutrition Strategy for the Eastern Mediterranean Region 2020-2030 and the Regional Framework for Action on Obesity Prevention 2019-2023.

The regional strategy also sets out the framework for feasible and cost-effective evidence-based interventions to improve nutrition and achieve healthy diets for all through sustainable diets, at all ages, and achieve Sustainable Development Goal 2 (end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture) and Goal 3 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages).

His Excellency Dr Jan Jabbour, Representative of the World Health Organization in the Sultanate of Oman, said, “Today we are completing the implementation of one of the most important episodes of the national nutrition strategy by involving the manufacturing sector, which plays a major role in achieving the strategy’s objectives.

He praised the Sultanate’s success in reducing salt in bread by 10%, by agreeing with the major bakeries in the Sultanate on a voluntary basis, in reducing salt in bread by 10% for the first year and 20% in the following years, which met an unprecedented commitment by bakeries. 

He added, “We meet today to repeat this success, by working with you to reduce sugar in juices and soft drinks because of its direct impact on people’s health. We aim at the end of this day, to reach an agreement in which companies take the initiative to start reducing sugar in their products to be part of the good health of people. This is prudent especially for children because they consume a lot of juices. This is an initial stage of implementing a sugar reduction program, followed by setting standards related to the level of sugar in sweetened drinks.

The General Directorate of Primary Care represented by the Department of Nutrition has worked to improve nutrition at the national level through the application of several strategies. These include food fortification, limiting the amount of salt in bread, imposing taxes on soft drinks and preventing the use of hydrogenated oils in foods and others.

To continue these efforts and given the multiple burdens related to malnutrition facing the Sultanate of Oman, the reformulation of food products to reduce sugar is urgently required to ensure the availability of healthy and sustainable diets for all.

According to the 2017 National Nutrition Survey, 66.2% of the adult population is overweight and obese. The prevalence of overweight or obesity in children under the age of five is increasing from 2.4% to 4.2% between 2009 and 2017, and 17% of seventh and tenth-grade students are overweight and obese, according to the 2020 Annual Health Report. 

To address this problem, food product reformulation efforts have been aimed at reducing the sugar content of food products, particularly sugar-sweetened beverages. It taxed soft drinks (50%) and energy drinks (100%) as of June 2019 to encourage the reformulation of existing drinks to reduce the amount of sugar and help convert consumers to lower sugar consumption.

Dr Salima Al-Maamari, Director of the Department of Nutrition, stated that the rates of sugar consumption in the community are currently high, and the World Health Organization recommends that this consumption should not exceed 6 spoons of sugar per day for an adult. This amount or close to it is found in one can of sweetened drinks such as juices and soft drinks. Therefore, it is necessary to start reducing these amounts of sugar gradually.

Health is everyone’s responsibility, and it is important that beverage manufacturers cooperate to gradually reduce sugar rates in the coming years. There will be no difference in the taste of the product if this change takes place gradually over years.