

“So many of the sugary foods are very cheap - you can buy a packet of six doughnuts for much less than you pay to buy six apples, for example.


(2)ĭr Stanton said while in Australia the goods and services tax was applied to junk foods, this was not sufficient to moderate consumption of these foods. The prospective cohort study of more than 31 000 people, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, also found that the risk of CVD mortality was more than double for those whose daily calorie intake was more than 21% from added sugar compared with those with less than 8% from added sugar.Īn accompanying editorial said the study underscored “the appropriateness of evidence-based sugar regulations, specifically SSBs taxation”. “We need something to alert people to how much they are actually consuming, because I don’t think they really know.”ĭr Stanton was commenting after US researchers found that adults who consumed 17%–21% of daily calories from added sugars had a 38% higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality, compared with those whose diet comprised 8% of calories from added sugars. “The body of research basically shows that it’s only added sugar that’s the problem … but the food industry has resisted putting added sugar on the label”, Dr Stanton said. Leading nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton said labelling reform was needed to compel food manufacturers to disclose the percentage of added-sugar in their products, rather than just list total sugars. The risk of mental decline was higher in those who ate high-carb diets, and lower in those whose diets were higher in fat and/or protein.RESEARCH showing high consumption of added sugar more than doubles the risk of cardiovascular mortality has prompted Australian experts to renew calls for labelling reform to help curb sugar consumption. All of the subjects were cognitively normal at the beginning of the study, and about 200 developed signs of dementia over the next 3.7 years.

In a 2015 study of post-menopausal women, higher levels of added sugars and refined carbs were associated with an increased likelihood of depression, while higher consumption of fiber, dairy, fruit and vegetables was associated with a lower risk.Īnd, in a study of nearly 1,000 seniors (median age: 79.5), researchers found that eating a diet high in simple carbs significantly increased the risk of developing dementia. That means that the simple act of eating sugar makes you instantly dumber the more you do it, the greater your risk of diabetes, and the greater your risk of depression and dementia as well. The answer: In a study in the journal Diabetologia, researchers found that when blood glucose levels are elevated, BDNF levels drop. One of the recent mysteries of science is why depression, diabetes, and dementia seem to cluster in epidemiological studies, and why having one of these health issues seems to increase your risk for the others. Consider this: You'd need to eat six cups of strawberries to get the same amount of fructose as in one can of Coke. "It's almost impossible to over-consume fructose by eating too much fruit," says Johnson. That's because naturally occurring sugars, like what you find in an apple, come with their own health posse- fiber, which slows the digestion of the sugar and prevents it from spiking insulin response and damaging your liver, two serious side effects of added sugar. But ingredients that are used in foods to provide added sweetness and calories, from the much-maligned high fructose corn syrup to healthier-sounding ones like agave, date syrup, cane sugar, and honey, are all considered added sugars. So lactose, the sugar naturally found in milk and dairy products, and naturally occurring fructose, the sugar that appears in fruit, don't count. Johnson, PhD, RD, retired professor of nutrition at The University of Vermont. "Added sugars are sugars that are contributed during the processing or preparation of foods and beverages," says Rachel K. When they talk about "added sugar," health experts aren't talking about the stuff that we consume from eating whole foods.
