A recent video by a social media influencer on sugar content in Bournvita kicked up a storm. Mondelez India-owned health drink brand rejected claims of having high sugar content, terming the video as “unscientific”, which “distorted facts and made false and negative inferences”. The video was deleted by influencer Revant Himatsingka after he was served a legal notice by the company. The video had racked up around 12 million views and was also shared across social media platforms and by many prominent people.

But that’s not the end of the story. Social media is rife with debate on several health benefits claimed by the makers of Bournvita.

Dr Abby Philips, @theliverdr on Twitter, an hepatologist and clinician-scientist working at The Liver Institute, Rajagiri Hospital, Kerala, has argued that the claims of scientific methods or studies and the scientific evidence for everything that is written on the Bournvita product are not backed by good evidence. “Cadbury’s claims are misleading on muscle and bone growth, immunity enhancement and brain development – there are no controlled studies to show the same,” he claimed.

“Cadburys has made a statement that they have designed the product on scientific basis, which means there has to be published studies backing their claims,” he wrote on Twitter, citing several studies critical of Bournvita.

“What people do not realize is that even a “healthy probiotic drink” like Yakult has total carbohydrates 11.5g of which 11.2g is added sugars. Even the light version is not sugar free,” he wrote.

However, the company has asserted that its claims are verified. “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 while responding to the controversial video.

The company said Bournvita is best consumed with a glass of 200 millilitere of hot or cold milk as highlighted on the pack. “Every serving of 20 gm of Bournvita has 7.5 grams of added sugar, which is approximately one and a half teaspoons. This is much less than the daily recommended intake limits of sugar for children,” said Mondelez India, the company which owns popular brands such as Cadbury Dairy Milk, 5 Star, Oreo cookie and Gems.Though Bournvita responded to the claims of Himatsingka who then apologised to the company and deleted the video, social media users have unleashed a flurry of posts, disputing health benefits of Bournvita and criticising the company for browbeating Himatsingka.

Nitin Kamath, Founder & CEO of stockbroking platform Zerodha and a popular social media user, joined the debate without naming Bournvita. “An intervention that could help people make healthier food & beverage choices is to have front-of-package food labelling, like FSSAI proposed in their 2018 draft paper. Indicate fat, sugar, & salt per serving, & a warning if per serving per cent is beyond a per cent of the daily requirement,” Kamath said in his Twitter post.

“Even the healthiest foods on the planet are healthy only when consumed in moderation,” he wrote.