Sugar intake too high globally
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Sugar use too high globally, experts report
Soft drinks, juice targets in study that found changes in diet over 40 years
By CAROLINE ALPHONSO
Globe & Mail
Thursday, November 20, 2003 - Page A10
People around the world are developing a sweet tooth, with sugary soft
drinks and fruit juices being the main culprits, a study shows.
U.S. researchers found a shift in diet over the past 40 years.
The shift has been from high-fibre foods to those containing sweeteners,
including sugar, that are linked with obesity and other health problems.
Pop and fruit juices appear to be major contributors, the researchers said.
"A number of studies have emerged that indicated how soft-drink and
fruit-drink intake are adversely linked with adolescent and adult weight
gain in the United States and Europe," said Barry Popkin, a professor of
nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-author
of the study.
"Our new study shows that the large increase in added sugar is not
restricted to these few very high-income countries but is a worldwide
phenomenon."
The study, in this month's issue of the medical journal Obesity Research,
found that the average diet worldwide has increased by 74 calories a day.
In the United States, the researchers reported, people consume an extra 83
calories a day of sweeteners -- of which 80 per cent come from soft drinks
and fruit juices.
Dr. Popkin said the pattern is similar in Canada.
Numerous research papers have documented an obesity epidemic.
The effects are seen especially among young children, due principally to
the combination of inactivity and poor diet.
Obesity boosts the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other illnesses.
Dr. Popkin, along with nutrition doctoral student Samara Joy Nielsen,
analyzed food information that was gathered by more than 100 countries in
1962 and by 127 countries in 2000.
They found that sugar intake increased considerably more in lower- and
middle-income countries than in the highest-income countries.
"We are increasingly consuming foods that provide energy but few other
nutrients," Dr. Popkin said.
He added that children are drinking less milk and water than they did
previously.
David Jenkins, a professor of nutritional sciences at the University of
Toronto, agrees with Dr. Popkin's findings that people are drinking more
sweetened drinks containing a lot of calories and few nutrients.
He said that beans, lentils and pumpernickel bread are not eaten as
frequently now.
People are turning to white bread, bagels and sweetened drinks when they do
not need the extra calories, Dr. Jenkins said.
"Those desires that were once very reasonable can now be taken to excess,"
he said.
"Not only are starchy foods being replaced by starchy foods that taste
sweet, but we're also eating a lot more sweet things."
Dr. Popkin said more sweeteners are being added to products every day, and
consumers are not aware of it.
He said all products should be labelled if they contain sweeteners, and the
food industry should be better regulated, prohibiting added sugar to canned
fruits and vegetables.
Parents, he said, should give their children milk and water instead of soft
drinks.
"It's just adding to calories without giving us any nutritional benefit.
"There's zero benefit in sugar, except calories.
"And there are very few people in the world who need the extra calories who
are consuming these foods."
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