"Cadbury's Claims Are Misleading": Scientist On Bournvita's Clarification

A scientist and liver specialist, Dr Abby Phillips on Monday said that Cadbury's claims are misleading. He said that there are studies to support that the 'health drink' Bournvita can help in muscle and bone growth or it can enhance immunity and develop the brain.

This comes after influencer Revant Himatsingka's video criticising the endorsement of Cadbury's product Bournvita as a 'health drink' went viral. However, he deleted the video after being served a legal notice by the company, but it was widely circulated on the social media platform putting the confectionery major in a tizzy.

Backing Mr Himatsingka's claims, Dr Philips in a Twitter thread said that there are no studies supporting that they have designed the product on a scientific basis.

Dr Philips shared four research papers. One suggested that caffeine content in Bournvita was higher than in other similar cocoa-based products, another study said that Bournvita product changes colour due to inherent changes in pH due to its "sugary" content. The third study called the UNICEF-Cadbury partnership "sugar washing."

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… pic.twitter.com/PkyDRxLlg4

— TheLiverDoc (@theliverdr) April 17, 2023

He wrote, "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 percent, per serve 20g has 14.2g sugar which is approx. Fifty-seven percent of recommended upper daily limit and this will only increase if more milk is added, or additional sugar is used over the day. Hence 'claim' that using the product as advised is safe is also a misleading one," he added.

Recently, influencer Revant Himatsingka's video criticising the endorsement of Cadbury's product Bournvita as a 'health drink' went viral. However, he deleted the video after being served a legal notice by the company, but it was widely circulated on the social media platform putting the confectionery major in a tizzy.

Meanwhile, Mondelez India-owned health drink brand Bournvita on Monday rejected the claims of a social media influencer of having high sugar content, terming a video posted by him as "unscientific", which "distorted facts and made false and negative inferences".

"We would again like to reinforce that the formulation has been scientifically crafted by a team of nutritionists and food scientists to offer the best of taste and health. All our claims are verified and transparent and all ingredients have regulatory approvals. All the necessary nutritional information is mentioned on the pack for consumers to make informed choices," said a Bournvita spokesperson.