I recently bought a cup of coffee from a vending machine and was given coffee ‘with sugar’, on account of my inadvertent delay in pressing the ‘no sugar’ button.
We are all aware of the health risks that sugar poses, yet most, if not all, of the coffee machines on the market serve coffee ‘with sugar’ by default, making it harder for people to choose the healthier (no sugar) option.
In the past I have often found myself drinking coffee with sugar because I had no more loose change to purchase another coffee.
I am sure I am not unique in this and, even if loose change weren’t so hard to come by, some people are simply not willing or able to spend more money on another coffee.
Of course, the moral of the story and bottom line is that a number of people are consuming sugar which is ‘bad for them’ and which they did not really want to in the first place.
I find it very strange that in this health conscious age we live in, in a country where obesity and diabetes are rife, machines continue to dispense the ‘unhealthier’ option by default. It flies in the face of all public health efforts and campaigns.
From a medical and health point of view it’s of course absurd and not just because of obesity and diabetes – sugar is responsible for so many other ‘evils’ – tooth decay, acne, wrinkles and headaches to name a few.
Vending machines should serve the healthier option by default and leave it to those who would rather opt for the unhealthy sugar option to jump through hoops to get their sugar fix.
I’m no expert in the vending machine business, but even I fail to see the long-term business advantage of adding sugar to coffee by default. Ultimately this is an extra cost to the supplier and it’s the caffeine that keeps them coming back for more.
Both at EU and national level, legislation is constantly being formulated and updated in a bid to improve individual quality of life and public health in general.
In Malta, a lot of effort goes into targeting obesity and diabetes specifically.
Excessive sugar intake is the root cause of common diabetes.
This is about preventing ‘unnecessary’ sugar intake: I urge the concerned authorities to study this issue in more depth and consider mandating that all vending machines placed on the market dispense the healthier option by default.
Let anyone who wants to choose the unhealthier option make a conscious unhealthy decision to do this.