- Research show we consume 60 grams added sugars a day
- Including naturally provided sugars the daily total is 93.5 grams
By Rosie Boycott
PUBLISHED: 22:42 GMT, 14 September 2013 | UPDATED: 22:42 GMT, 14 September 2013
PUBLISHED: 22:42 GMT, 14 September 2013 | UPDATED: 22:42 GMT, 14 September 2013
Put a cake in front of me – chocolate, sponge, carrot – and, if I let myself, I’ll start eating it. One slice or two. Perhaps three. There have been days when I’ve munched my way through well over half, maybe even the entire cake. The lunacy is that often when I start eating, I am not even hungry.
Replace the cake with a plain bowl of porridge, no sugar or honey, and I am not interested.
Does that make me a sugar addict? New scientific research suggests that perhaps it does. French researchers in Bordeaux recently reported that laboratory rats chose sugar over cocaine – despite the fact that they were addicted to cocaine.
 |
| Overload: Sugar is addictive and Britain is hooked on the white stuff with an average consumption of 160 teaspoons a week |
I am not alone. Much has been made recently of how the food industry has turned us all into ‘sugar junkies’.
In the US, there is a whole genre of literature devoted to the subject. Endocrinologist Robert Lustig’s lecture Sugar: The Bitter Truth has been viewed almost four million times on YouTube – quite unprecedented for a rather dry medical lecture.
It’s often casually mentioned, as if it’s fact, that manufacturers secretly spike everyday foods with sugar to keep us hooked and that this is what is behind the spiralling number of obese Britons.
Half of us are overweight, and a quarter so overweight there is a risk of a host of illnesses from cancer to heart disease. But the truth is far more complex.
According to the National Diet And Nutrition Survey, a rolling research programme that aims to give a yearly snapshot of our eating habits, we are now eating fewer sugary snacks than we were when the project began in 2007, taking in 13g of sugar in this way a day, down from 22g then.
 |
Hidden sweets: Even a fruit salad will contribute to your daily intake as it contains fructose
|
It still means that in a week, the average Briton consumes 91g – about 22 teaspoonsful, going by the generally accepted 4.2g in a spoon.
The reduction in junk could be in part down to repeated public health warnings about fizzy drinks, which seem to have had some effect. The 2013 British Soft Drinks Association’s report shows we are consuming fewer high-sugar sodas than we were ten years ago. But again this isn’t the whole story.
‘We have swapped sodas for smoothies and fruit juice and this is one of the worst things you can do in terms of sugar consumption,’ says Anna Raymond, spokesman for the British Dietetic Association. ‘Even worse, children account for almost half the market.’
She adds: ‘People often have fruit juice or a diet drink, and then eat as much high-sugar and high-GI food as they like. It’s as though they believe a low-calorie drink counteracts the unhealthy food.’
Take Tropicana Orange Juice. It contains an astonishing 30g of sugar per 330ml serving, almost the same as a can of Coke. And an Innocent smoothie (interestingly, the company is now owned by Coca-Cola) has 26.3g, about six teaspoons, in one tiny bottle.
This is confusing, as surely a smoothie is just blitzed fruit – part of our five a day – and maybe some milk or yogurt? Nutrition expert Dr Adam Carey, CEO of Corperformance, explains: ‘Shop-bought smoothies are almost undoubtedly sweetened with extra apple juice.
Although they may contain some whole fruit, usually there will be further extracted fruit juice from other ingredients, such as lemon, or grapes, basically sugar and water. They are lower-fibre and higher-sugar.
 |
| Hidden agenda: Ketchup contains a lot of added sugar, and let's not forget that tomatoes are fruits, not vegetables |
'I think of fruit as being vegetables with added sugar. Ideally limit it to one or two pieces. And make home smoothies from veg.’
Worries about sugar intake may be behind the recent proliferation of alternatives. People often believe honey, maple or agave syrup are ‘healthier’.
But they are all essentially liquid sugars. Some low-fat products, including yogurts, spreads and sauces, are higher in sugar than the normal versions.
It seems that, far from being kept secret, sugar is hiding in plain sight.
So how much do we actually consume? The National Diet And Nutrition Survey – based on self-reported consumption – is the nearest we can get to the truth.
The research indicates we consume 60g of added sugars daily from all sources (including fruit juice, and the junk food mentioned before).
But though we know roughly how much sugar a banana, or tomato or milk, contains naturally, prepared foods such as bread or ready meals don’t differentiate between sugar provided naturally by ingredients and that which has been added. So just how accurate can the survey be?
Perhaps more reliable is the figure for total sugars: 96.5g per day – almost 23 teaspoons a day, or 160 a week.
It means we are still eating more than the 90g daily – or 22 teaspoons – that the UK Food Standards Agency says is acceptable.
To add to the confusion, doctors now say this limit – used to create the ‘traffic light’ food labels that show ingredient amounts as a percentage of our daily intake – is too high anyway.
Dr Aseem Malhotra, a cardiologist leading a UK task force looking at sugar, says: ‘The FSA advice is outdated. A limit of 22 teaspoons is way too high.
Studies show this level of intake is strongly linked to type-2 diabetes and obesity.’
In January the British Medical Journal published World Health Organisation-commissioned research that proved high-sugar diets lead to weight gain.
Although this might seem rather obvious, it does give us a tangible cause for the problem of obesity, when weight becomes directly implicated in cardiovascular disease, cancers, type-2 diabetes, osteoarthritis and hypertension, disability and decreased life expectancy.
It is horrifying that these days almost 30 per cent of children are obese when they enter secondary school. So how did our food system get taken over by sugar?
For the answer we have to go back to the 1950s. As we prospered, it was relatively easy for the new industrial barons to figure how to sell us more clothes, shoes and jewellery, for example. They could all be advertised as ‘aspirational’.
But one product proved resistant: food. Then the chemistry of processed food began to develop, with a growing understanding of how our palates and senses work.
Manufacturers realised that by putting sugars directly into processed foods, they could manipulate the amount we ate and make our desire for sweetness override our ‘full’ button.
Over decades, the tiny amounts of sugar in bread, savoury ready meals and sauces crept up – an indicator of our growing sweet tooth.
But, perhaps more importantly, how and where we eat has changed. When I was a child, I’d have three meals a day, with an apple in the middle of the morning and perhaps a slice of cake with my tea.
At the end of the 1970s, though, a slew of new products appeared on our shelves which were not associated with any particular meal and which, indeed, would have barely been recognisable as ‘food’ to my mother. When are we meant to eat the hundreds of different flavours of crisps that occupy whole supermarket aisles? Newsagents and corner stores boast arrays of bars made of cereals, sugars, nuts, yogurts, all stacked up by the tills.
Now we eat throughout the day: at our desks, in the car, on the bus. We eat for fun. And so I end up eating cake when I am not hungry.
HOW THE FOOD INDUSTRY IS KEEPING US SWEET
Experts say it’s not hidden sugar we have to worry about – it’s the obvious stuff that we’re simply not recognising. But many pre-prepared foods today do contain more sugar than they did a generation ago.
Paul Finglas, head of food databanks at the Institute of Food Research, says: ‘Manufacturers respond to demand. If sweeter food sells, then that’s what they’ll make.’
Using the food professionals’ bible – McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition Of Foods, containing accurate, lab-tested nutritional breakdowns for about 1,200 of the most commonly consumed foods in the UK – we compared the sugar content of some of today’s most commonly bought supermarket products with those listed in the 1978 edition (when often no brand names were given)...
Paul Finglas, head of food databanks at the Institute of Food Research, says: ‘Manufacturers respond to demand. If sweeter food sells, then that’s what they’ll make.’
Using the food professionals’ bible – McCance and Widdowson’s The Composition Of Foods, containing accurate, lab-tested nutritional breakdowns for about 1,200 of the most commonly consumed foods in the UK – we compared the sugar content of some of today’s most commonly bought supermarket products with those listed in the 1978 edition (when often no brand names were given)...
Recently, the Advertising Standards Authority banned a Coca-Cola television advertisement showing a variety of activities including dog-walking, dancing and laughing, activities that it claims would burn off the ‘139 happy calories’ in a single serving of the soft drink.
What the advert didn’t make clear – according to the ASA – is that all of the activities needed to be done in combination in order to get rid of them. Some viewers thought that doing one would be enough.
When the Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, tried to ban the sale of mega-sized sodas (780 calories in a single serving), the industry took out a full-page advert showing the mayor in a long dress and scarf under the headline: ‘The Nanny. You only thought you lived in the land of the free.’
Just as the tobacco industry once maintained that there was no link with cancer, food companies say there is no proof that sugar causes illness.
Yet research is now showing that refined carbohydrate foods – things like sweets, cakes, white bread, pastry, pasta and chips – have an effect far beyond simple weight gain caused by more calories consumed than energy expended.
The issue is that sugar, say some experts, brings about chemical changes in the body. Prof Lustig says: ‘The number of calories you consume is irrelevant. When people ate 150 calories more every day, the rate of diabetes went up 0.1 per cent. But if those calories came from a can of fizzy drink, the rate went up 1.1 per cent. Added sugar is 11 times more potent at causing diabetes than general calories.’
The evidence is there. I’d like to see a ban on adverts for junk food before the watershed, a tax on fizzy drinks and an end to allowing sugary drinks – including those made from fruit – to associate themselves in any way with health. It’s not much to ask to try to ensure a healthy future for our children.
The treats that give your brain a hit like heroin
 |
| Lifelong addiction: Sugar has been compared to drugs |
To say that sugar – or, rather, added sugar in pre-prepared junk food and snacks – is ‘the next tobacco’ in terms of the harm it causes to our bodies is a bold statement.
Here consultant cardiologist Dr Laura Corr explains why we need to be sensible.
The most recent surveys show we are eating FEWER sugary snacks these days than we were decades ago, and that added sugar in pre-prepared foods has remained basically the same. What is all the fuss about?
Not all sugars are the same – and it’s probably more helpful to look at the Glycaemic Index (GI) of foods.
Carbohydrates are made up of chains of molecules known as monosaccharides (also known as simple sugars) such a glucose, fructose and sucrose.
The GI score is a measure of how quickly carbohydrates in a food are broken down by the digestive system into these basic building blocks, and then absorbed into the blood.
Foods with a high GI, such as fizzy drinks, sweets, white bread, crisps and other processed junk foods, release their sugar rapidly into the bloodstream.
In a small study this year from Harvard Medical School, men were given the same calories but in the form of either high or low-GI food.
Four hours after the high-GI food was consumed, MRI imaging revealed selective stimulation of the ‘reward and craving’ centre of the brain – the same area that would be affected by taking cocaine or heroin.
This may be why people say they can’t resist the temptation to snack on junk food even when they desperately want to lose weight.
Also, it has to be pointed out that the National Diet And Nutrition Survey which has been carried out each year, and has found we are eating less sugary food, is based on self-reported surveys. Research has repeatedly backed up the common-sense hypothesis about these kinds of studies: that people underestimate their intake.
WORRIED? SEVEN QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF
If sugary foods can be addictive, how do we know when our eating habits are a cause for concern?
Researchers at the Rudd Center helped formulate the Yale Food Addiction Scale which is used to diagnose eating disorders. Read the following seven statements.
If you answer ‘yes, more than three times a week’ to the first five, and simply ‘yes’ to the rest, you might need to think about speaking to a doctor about your eating habits...
1. Eat certain foods even if I am no longer hungry.
2. Feel sluggish or fatigued from overeating.
3. My behaviour with respect to food causes me distress.
4. I have had physical withdrawal symptoms such as agitation and anxiety when I cut down on certain foods (not including coffee and tea).
5. I have spent time dealing with negative feelings from overeating, instead of spending time with family, friends, work or recreation.
6. I am consuming the same types or amounts of food despite significant emotional or physical problems related to my eating.
7. Over time, I have found that I need to eat more and more to get the feeling I want, such as reduced negative emotions or increased pleasure.
Researchers at the Rudd Center helped formulate the Yale Food Addiction Scale which is used to diagnose eating disorders. Read the following seven statements.
If you answer ‘yes, more than three times a week’ to the first five, and simply ‘yes’ to the rest, you might need to think about speaking to a doctor about your eating habits...
1. Eat certain foods even if I am no longer hungry.
2. Feel sluggish or fatigued from overeating.
3. My behaviour with respect to food causes me distress.
4. I have had physical withdrawal symptoms such as agitation and anxiety when I cut down on certain foods (not including coffee and tea).
5. I have spent time dealing with negative feelings from overeating, instead of spending time with family, friends, work or recreation.
6. I am consuming the same types or amounts of food despite significant emotional or physical problems related to my eating.
7. Over time, I have found that I need to eat more and more to get the feeling I want, such as reduced negative emotions or increased pleasure.
Still, it seems ridiculous to liken food to hard drugs – is it an overstatement?
There is evidence that sweet foods do hit the pleasure and reward centres in the brain rather like hard drugs.
In some people who binge-eat, sugar may produce a true addiction. The more they eat, the more they want, and it is the same mechanism as craving a drug.
OK, so we can get ‘hooked’ on biscuits . . . what’s the big problem, aside from eventually having to buy bigger clothes?
Research shows that prolonged high-GI food intake is associated with fatty changes in the liver.
This leads to insulin resistance (where insulin becomes less effective), high blood pressure, diabetes and unhealthy cholesterol levels – all risk factors for cardiac disease.
You don’t even have to be overweight for this to occur.
In large surveys, high GI diets are strongly associated with cardiovascular conditions leading to strokes, heart attacks and death.
I’m a bit big round the middle, but I’m not fat. I’m OK, right?
An expanding waistline is a concern. If you are skinny with a big belly, you are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease than someone just as heavy but with more even fat distribution.
This abdominal fat comes from the different metabolic processes. The good news is that low-carb diets in this case can be more effective for weight loss than low-fat diets.
So I have a bit of cake or a biscuit most evenings – are you saying I have to give up?
Ideally, we wouldn’t eat refined sugar at all, but it’s obviously unrealistic to think this might happen. However, we all need to be aware of our consumption of high-GI foods. Avoid white bread and pasta as well as biscuits and cakes.
Read labels – there is often more hidden added sugar than you’d think. I tell my patients to be cautious about foods labelled ‘low-fat’ as they are often packed with sugars instead.
Also, take fruit sugars into account when considering your overall consumption: a smoothie may have the same amount of sugar as three or four doughnuts.
Eating whole fruit has other benefits – a fruit salad for breakfast contains vital Vitamin C and fibre. Don’t be draconian, be sensible.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2420713/Were-sugar-junkies-Britons-wolf-unimaginable-160-teaspoons-week--worse-news-It-really-IS-addictive.html
