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Not so sweet anymore: How India's relationship with sugar is turning sour

With rising incomes, education, and health awareness in India, especially in the big cities, droves of people are saying no to sugar

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It is no coincidence that this comes at a time when India, which has had its battles with poverty and malnutrition, is now also facing the rising menace of obesity and lifestyle diseases such as diabetes

Sharleen DsouzaAkshara Srivastava Mumbai/New Delhi
Six summers ago, Cadbury, owned by Mondelez, unveiled a campaign for its Dairy Milk chocolate brand to mark its 70th year in India: “Kuchh achchha ho jaye”. That is Hindi for “let something good happen”. It built on a long-running campaign whose tagline was, “Kuchh meetha ho jai”, or let’s have something sweet.

Both the campaigns were rooted in the Indian psyche, where for centuries, sweet has been synonymous with celebration.

Not so much anymore.

Today, achchha (good) is being separated from meetha (sweet).

With rising incomes, education, and health awareness in India, especially in the big cities, droves of people are saying no