A new study, published in the 7 February 2012 issue of the journal Respirology, has drawn a link between high soft drink consumption and increased risks of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A team of researchers led by Dr Zumin Shi, of the University of Adelaide, conducted research on consumption of soft drinks from March 2008- June 2010. The researchers used computer-assisted telephone interviewing nearly 17,000 participants aged 16 years and older in South Australia between... ...Read more »

One of Australia’s leading diabetes experts has criticized a reported study published in the journal Nature, on February 2, 2012 that was written by Dr Robert Lustig, Dr Laura Schmidt and Dr Claire Brindis of the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). The co-authors  claimed that high consumption of sugar “largely mirrors the effects of drinking too much alcohol” and should be regulated like alcohol and tobacco. Dr Alan Barclay, head of research at the Australian Diabetes Council,... ...Read more »

A team of researchers at the University of California, San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center and Columbia University have estimated that a nationwide tax on sweetened beverages in the U.S. would prevent nearly 26,000 deaths each year. Their research was based on the findings of previous U.S. research which estimated that a ‘penny-per-ounce’ tax would reduce consumption of sweetened beverages by 15 per cent over a decade. However, it appears the authors of the later study have... ...Read more »

Whilst growth in the iced coffee market continues to be dominated by Asia, levels of interest elsewhere in the world appear to be growing according to figures released today by international research body, Innova Database. According to Innova, the demand for iced coffee drinks appears to be growing, not only geographically, but also beyond its original home in the foodservice sector of many countries, particularly the USA. Innova Database’s research found that Asia accounted for nearly three-quarters... ...Read more »

In a world-first Australian experiment, Coca-Cola is replacing the “Coke” branding with one of 150 of Australia’s most popular personal first names for its next summer marketing campaign. The company has allocated 268 million bottles and cans for personalisation. The campaign will include the use of Youtube and Facebook, encouraging people to promote the personalised bottles and broadcast their own names via SMS for display on a major advertising sign in Sydney’s King’s... ...Read more »

Coca-Cola Amatil has launched its new bottle preform and closure facility at Eastern Creek in Victoria, a $57 million investment in its beverage manufacturing capability. The new plant, which uses injection moulding technology, will manufacture plastic bottle caps and PET resin “preforms”, which are test-tube shaped moulds used to manufacture CCA’s PET plastic beverage bottles. CCA said the Eastern Creek facility is the final stage in CCA’s vertical integration of its manufacturing facilities... ...Read more »

 The Australian Government is looking to reduce the consumption of high sugar drinks in remote communities. The move comes on the back of a study published by the Menzies School of Health Research on Monday (17 May), which found income management in the Northern Territory had done little to dampen soft-drink sales. The research showed there had been an increase in the consumption of high sugar drinks in stores from October 2006 to September 2009. The research also cited reports that soft drinks... ...Read more »

Coca-Cola Amatil has hiked the price of their soft drinks by five per cent in an endeavour to protect margins in the face of soaring costs of key inputs like sugar, according to the Australian Financial Review. Australia’s largest soft drink maker is dealing with steady price increases of some of their key resource costs, including sugar and aluminium. The sugar price reached a 29-year high at the beginning of the month but has since retreated a little as markets become more volatile. And CCA... ...Read more »

The global economic downturn has presented the perfect conditions for private label products to flourish, according to a new report from beverage research agency Canadean. Private label products in the total soft drinks sector now account for over 1 in every 10 litres traded in the global marketplace. And, if you discount the on-premise sector, where private label use is marginal, then private label’s share of the market rises yet further. The rise of private label is proving to be a considerable... ...Read more »

The global market for carbonated soft drinks saw its growth rate halve in 2008, dropping from 3% in 2007 to 1.4%, but research consultants from Canadean are forecasting better times ahead with the market growth rate expected to accelerate next year. In the meantime, 2009 will see growth slow significantly as the world enters the eye of the global financial storm, according to Canadean’s recently published Global Carbonates Report. Despite the slowdown, carbonates remains King of the soft drinks... ...Read more »