Latest Thai social media craze, sweet soy sauce soda, poses serious health risk, says health dept

The Department of Health issued a warning to the public regarding the consumption of a trendy Thai social media beverage called sweet soy sauce soda. According to the department, the drink has unhealthy quantities of sodium and sugar, which surpass the recommended daily intake and can pose a health hazard.

The drink is trending after a famous Thai sauce company, Deksomboon, announced a new product, sweet soy sauce soda as an April Fool’s Day joke. Deksoomboo later uploaded the sweet soy sauce soda recipe to Facebook followers who expressed an interest in trying it.

Previously, Deksoomboon had introduced a vanilla ice cream dessert featuring a topping of sweet soy sauce, which led many Thai netizens to speculate that the flavour of sweet soy sauce soda might be similar. As a result, numerous netizens attempted the recipe and shared their results on social media.

Despite the popularity of the drink, the Deputy Director of the Department of Health, Sarawut Boonsook, warned consumers against drinking it because the beverage contains high sugar and sodium.

Sarawut said that the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended that an individual should not consume more than six teaspoons or 24,000 milligrams of sugar per day and one teaspoon or 2,000 milligrams of sodium per day.

For the sweet soy sauce, Saeawut said the sauce contains both sugar and sodium and one person must not consume exceeding six teaspoons per day.

Sarawut pointed out that food and drinks already contain enough sugar and sodium to meet an individual’s daily requirements. Therefore, consuming sweet soy sauce soda would result in exceeding the recommended daily intake, which could have harmful effects on health.

Additionally, the carbon dioxide dissolved in the soda would lead to an increase in acid levels in the body. Sarawut also warned people who are allergic to soy and gluten to be cautious about trying the drink.

This is not the first time that an unexpected food or drink item has gone viral on Thai social media. Last year, the Department of Health warned Thai people to be careful of eating a living squid and cooked bullfrog dipped in a shot glass with spicy sauce, pork sashimi, raw meat, deep-fried dough sticks (Pa Thong Go), etc.