I've loved being in India. My first time.
I am shocked by how normalized Indians are to poor air quality. Breathing the air is like smoking multiple cigarettes a day. Yet no one wears a mask or has air filters in their indoor environments.
India has an amazing opportunity; cleaning up its air would unleash:
+ an increased life expectancy of 3.57 years (5). For context on how large of an opportunity that is, curing all cancer would only add 3.
+ $95 billion to its economic growth (3% of GDP) that is currently lost in productivity due to poor air quality
+ India is forecasted to be the world's 3rd largest economy by 2030, has an ideal demographic age pyramid, and is hungry for success.
🧵
Each day is a cruel reminder of the fact that India has heat like Arab countries, infrastructure like sub-Saharan Africa, work culture like East Asia, taxes like Europe- to get air and water quality like Delhi.
The only thing we can take pride is in our Healthcare system which is destined to collapse, given the quality of lives we lead & the burden on it that will follow.
Last year, a coworker randomly asked me to hand-deliver an antique violin across the country. I said yes, because why not. I had no idea what I was getting into, and now I need your help. A 🧵
Instagram influencer, The FoodPharmer deleted his video, calling out the misleading information on Cadbury's Bounrvita product. Essentially, the product claimed improved brain activity, improved muscles, improved immune system and improved bone health.
All of these require empirical evidence for confirmation.
Cadburys has made a statement that they have designed the product on scientific basis, which means there has to be published studies backing their claims.
Here are the ones I found:
1. A study showed that caffeine content in Bournvita was higher than other similar cocoa based products. https://t.co/ctchJjvbqs
2. Pregnant women in Nigeria AVOIDED Bournvita due to fear of developing "big babies" and complicated labour/delivery. https://t.co/eQUk2saK1j
3. Another study showed that Bournvita product changes color due to inherent changes in pH due to its "sugary" content. https://t.co/yHpiIyhKcm
4. The last paper I came across anything remotely to Cadbury's the maker of Bournvita is this one:
"Critics say UNICEF-Cadbury partnership is mere sugarwashing." - https://t.co/qwQXsEZ5EN
Basically, the claims of scientific methods or studies and the scientific evidence for everything that is written on the Bournvita product is not backed by good evidence and thus, Cadbury's claims are misleading on muscle and bone growth, immunity enhancement and brain development - there are no controlled studies to show the same.
Considering the high sugar content of 71%, per serve 20g has 14.2g sugar which is approx. 57% of recommended upper daily limit and this will only increase if more milk is added, or additional sugar used over the day. Hence "claim" that using the product as advised is safe is also a misleading one.
Big Food Pharma must come with empirical evidence rather than muscle tactics to prove a point. Herbalife did the same with me when I reported on the death of a young woman after consuming Herbalife products.
The motto of FMCG industry is:
"Protect the business at any cost, call out and persecute the whistleblowers and keep the consumers ignorant all the while throwing them under the bus."