The Australian Beverages Council supports a greater understanding of what makes up a balanced diet, in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines, including keeping sugar intake within recommended limits.

Our Members fully support consumer education on how to read and interpret nutrition labelling for sugars and all other nutrients, and we support science-based, interpretive front-of-pack labelling as a useful tool for helping people make informed choices.

Achieving a balanced diet isn’t about any one food or beverage in isolation, but about the entirety of what people eat and drink over time. The causes of overweight, obesity and related chronic diseases are complex, involving an interplay of biological, behavioural and environmental factors.

Our approach is consistent with the UN Committee on World Food Security’s Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition (VGFSyN, 2021), which emphasise the importance of healthy diets as a whole. We support policies that consider the total diet, including excess energy from all discretionary foods and beverages, as one of many factors.

Our industry is also playing its part. Over the ten years of the Australian Beverages Council’s Sugar Reduction Pledge, participating companies have reduced sugar from total drinks sold by 21%, avoiding more than 255,552 tonnes of sugar consumption. When plain water and sparkling waters are excluded, the reduction reaches 23%.

The final results demonstrate the success of voluntary industry action, with signatories exceeding the Pledge’s original target of a 20% reduction in sugar by 2025. While the industry’s ambitious 25% stretch target was not achieved, the result still reflects significant investment in reformulation, product innovation and expanding the availability of low- and no-sugar beverages.

For Further information

ABCL | Sugar Reduction Pledge

FSANZ | Sugar