By changing Complan’s composition, Heinz India has made health drink a little less healthy

Last month, when Heinz India rolled out big-bang golden jubilee celebrations of Complan, it gave it a new look, a new positioning, a new pack, a set of new brand ambassadors, including Amitabh Bachchan, and a new tagline — ‘Taakat ka naya plan’.

According to nutritionists, the company has also made its milkbased health drink brand a little less healthy. Heinz changed Complan’s composition last December by increasing sugar by 16 per cent (per 100 gms) and carbohydrates by 9.6 per cent, and cutting milk protein by 11per cent, fat by 36 per cent and vitamin K by 16 per cent.

"They have reduced all vital nutrients like milk protein, fats and vitamin K, which are so essential for growing kids," said Dr Gautam Sharma, a specialist in internal medicine at Delhi’s St Stephens Hospital. "And, to make for that, they have increased sugar and carbohydrate content." He said it is harmful for children and, at the same time, profitable for the company to cut down on expensive vital nutrients and increase cheap carbohydrate and sugars.






Heinz, however, claimed the new formulation has made Complan more balanced. "We have rationalised the new formulation by bringing down fat, which is a vital move in tackling rising obesity among kids," said Abhishek Prasad, general manager for marketing at Heinz India. "Earlier it (formulation) was not balanced. But now it’s more palatable, less heavy as we have cut protein, and more balanced," he added.

In an emailed response, a company spokesperson told ET that the new Complan is scientifically designed based on Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) guidelines and is strongly backed by nutritional science.

"Calories derived from milk protein are highest in Complan as compared to other leading health drinks," the spokesperson said. "It not only delivers lower calories from carbohydrates as compared to other leading health drinks but also New Complan has lower calorie content than the earlier Complan." But nutritionists do not buy this argument.

"The logic of cutting fat to tackle obesity doesn’t make any sense in the absence of reduction in sugar. It’s irrational," said Dr Anoop Misra, chairman of Fortis-C-DOC Hospital for Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases. In any composition, if you increase sugar and carbohydrate, you will have to cut fat to maintain the balance, he said. "So the claim of cutting fat to tackle obesity doesn’t hold water."

Neha Gupta, a registered dietician at N-lite Nutrition and Health Consultancy in Delhi, feels the earlier formulation of Complan was better. "I don’t know the reason for increasing sugar. It could be to make it more palatable. Otherwise there can be no justification for it," she said. "Of course, one gets more energy from sugar. But why cut vitamin K and milk protein?"

Complan accounts for more than half of Heinz India sales. However, the brand lost its second position in the market to Cadbury’s Bournvita early last year, and since then it has been on a slide. Milk-based beverages make up for over 35per cent of the Rs5,500-crore health food drink market in India, and GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare India’s Horlicks leads the pack by a hefty margin.

Both GSK Consumer Healthcare and Cadbury India did not reply to an email asking it if they would ever increase sugar in the composition of Horlicks or Bournvita. Some experts said children or anybody don’t need milk-based health drink supplements if they eat healthy. "What’s the use of dietary supplements if a child is having proper meals?" said Dr Misra of Fortis-C-DOC. "All kinds of claims made by these drinks in terms of increasing height, developing brain and other stuff are ridiculous." he added.