Without knowing it, we consume more and more sugar

Without necessarily realizing itwe consume more and more sugar. Here is the alarming finding drawn by a study published on July 29 on The Conversation and relayed by science alert.

Sugar or sweeteners: a health hazard

In its natural state, sugar – as found in fruit or honey, for example – is an essential source of nutrients and energy. It is different for added sugars and that The Conversation call some “non-nutritive sweeteners” (such as Stevia or aspartame, found in 0% sodas) present in industrial food and beverages.

Although the advertising leads us to believe that sweeteners are only not harmfulthey can play a major role in the health since they accustom us to eating sweets. This is particularly salient in children, whose taste buds are under construction.

The problem is that the amount of added sugars and sweeteners in industrial products has considerably increased in the last ten years. This was revealed by a study carried out on packaged food and beverages from 2007 to 2019.

Sugar has been on the rise since 2007, but not everywhere in the world

The researchers found that globally, per capita volumes of sweeteners increased by 36% in beverages and 9% in food. This increase is all the more worrying since we have not always aware of the amounts of sugar we absorb.

In Australia, for example, half the population consumes on average fourteen spoons teaspoon of sugar per day because of the packaged productsfar exceeding the six to nine doses recommended.

The authors of the study also observed that the industrial products were more or less sweet depending on the region of the world. When health policies are widely installed in rich countries, manufacturers of ultra-processed products are storming the market in middle-income countries, such as China and India. This is where we find the sweetest foods and drinks.

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Featured image credit: Thomas Kelley / Unsplash