Health experts behind the Rethink Sugary Drink Alliance are calling for mandatory displays of teaspoons of sugar on sugary drink labels to improve transparency and health, with new research showing the majority of Australians back the policy.

New results from Cancer Council Victoria’s Shape of Australia survey 2024, which surveyed almost 2,000 people, show 80% of Australians are in favour of the Federal Government requiring sugary drinks to display the number of teaspoons of added sugar on the front of the bottle. 

Head of Prevention at Cancer Council Victoria, Craig Sinclair, said there is also evidence to show front of pack nutrition labels improve knowledge and encourage food companies to produce healthier products.

“We do know that placing teaspoons of sugar on labels can result in increased awareness of the amount of sugar in drinks and importantly shift people to healthier beverages,”  Mr Sinclair said.

“The latest research supports other studies which show that Australian consumers found that front-of-pack label designs that quantify sugar content in drinks using teaspoons of sugar are consistently high performers, so now we need to build this into our policies to help decrease overconsumption of sugar-sweetened beverages.”

ConcerNingly, the recent Shape of Australia survey also found many Australians don’t know the full spectrum of products which constitute a sugary drink. Only 1 in 4 responding believed that a sports drink was a sugary drink and 1 in 3 didn’t realise a fruit drink fell into this category. Yet these products can often contain up to 9-10 teaspoons of sugar per bottle.

“Understanding how many teaspoons of sugar are actually in your energy drink or fruit juice will help educate communities that these products are sugary in nature, helping more Australians to rethink sugary drink and switch to water to improve their health,” Mr Sinclair said.

Source: excerpt from RSD Media Release 13 May 2025. 

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