The European Commission’s recent proposal for an outright ban on the addition of sugar to fruit juices is one well worth taking into serious consideration, especially for Malta, whose children and adults suffer one of the worst obesity problems in the whole of the bloc.

And although the majority of fruit juices on the market today do not contain added sugar, if the proposal is approved by the European Parliament the fact that it will be taken as a given that juices have no added sugar will go some way toward clearing up consumer ambiguity on the matter.

The proposal will completely ban sugar from juices and juices made from concentrate, but would still allow the addition of sugar to nectars but, in the latter case, the packing must clearly state as much.

What the proposal will do is instil consumer certainty that fruit juice is made from 100% fruit and that it contains no added sugar. As such, consumers trawling supermarket aisles will, if the proposal sees the light of day, have no questions as to what is really the healthy choice for themselves and their families on the drinks shelves.

This coming Sunday is World Diabetes Day and it is day well worth marking in Malta. Diabetes mellitus fatalities in Malta, at 23.3 deaths per year per 100,000 people, stand at nearly double the EU average of 13.9. The disease, linked to the same poor eating habits that lead to obesity, is third-highest cause of death in Malta.

Clearly, some concrete steps must clearly be taken to address the concerning state of affairs, and this proposal is one small step in the right direction. But much more needs to be done, in Malta in particular.

One sobering statistic from an EU-wide study, for example, is that at 25.1 percent of the population, Maltese men lead the EU’s male obesity leagues while Maltese women, at 21.2%, are in third place just behind the UK and Germany.

A 2005 World Health Organisation study across in 34 North American and European countries puts Malta on top of the obesity chart, followed by the US, UK and Canada. Unsurprisingly, it found that sedentary behaviour such as television viewing and physical inactivity was strongly correlated with being overweight.

In terms of children, one survey concludes that up to 33% of Maltese children are either overweight or actually obese. It found that while 56.1% of Maltese children are healthy, 11 percent are underweight, 14 percent are at risk of being overweight and 18.9% are obese.

The banning of sugar from fruit juices is no fruity concept at all. It, rather, is one small but concrete step in the right direction and we hope that it is one of many similar steps to be taken in the future.