The Australian Beverages Council supports greater understanding of what constitutes a balanced diet in support of the Australian Dietary Guidelines, including ensuring our diets are not too high in sugar.

Greater education on how to read and interpret labelling information about sugars (and all nutrients) is fully supported by Members.

The Australian Beverages Council advocates for greater understanding of what constitutes a balanced diet through greater consumer education on how to read and interpret food labelling. We also support added sugars being included in the Nutritional Information Panel.

While sugar can play a part in poor diet, the causes of overweight, obesity and associated chronic diseases are highly complex, and the key determinants include, but are not limited to, interactions between genetic, metabolic, cultural, environmental, socioeconomic and behavioural factors.

The Australian Beverages Council and its members understand the importance of addressing unhealthy diets as opposed to unhealthy foods. This guidance has come from the Food and Agriculture Organisation Voluntary Guidelines for Food Systems and Nutrition (VGFSynN), which emphasises the importance of healthy diets and addressing obesogenic environments as a whole.

The Australian Beverages Council supports reviews of the total diet in contributing to overweight, obesity and chronic disease and the total diet should always be considered with excess energy from all discretionary foods and beverages as one of many considerations.