News & Views - Date: June 2014

Response to Action on Sugar’s Childhood Obesity Plan

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It’s astonishing that this campaign group present a set of proposals that do not reflect the consensus of scientific evidence.

It is factually incorrect to say that reducing the amount of sugar in foods will always result in a reduction of calories. In many cases, the sugar in a food will need to be replaced by another ingredient and the reformulated recipes may contain the same or more calories than the original.

In addition, these proposals provide little evidence to support a recommendation for a sugar tax. In fact there is little evidence on how food taxes in reality affect what and how much people eat, or if they have any real impact on health.

For more information and media requests please email [email protected] and/or call 0203 701 7470 / 07738 198 935. Sugar Nutrition UK is an evidence-based association principally funded by UK sugar manufacturers and is involved in promoting nutrition research and raising awareness among academics, health professionals, the media and the public about sugars and their role in health.

Launch of PHE’S Sugar Reduction document

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Sugar Nutrition UK supports public health initiatives that promote a reduction in total calorie intake and that have a solid and credible scientific evidence base that shows a measurable benefit to the public. Proposals in Public Health England’s Sugar Reduction: Responding to the Challenge document include a sugar-sweetened beverage tax. Evidence for food taxes are primarily based on theoretical modelling and even then show only a small reduction in calories of around 4kcal a day*.

More “Launch of PHE’S Sugar Reduction document” >

Short-term effects of glucose and sucrose on cognitive performance and mood in elderly people

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van der Zwaluw,N.L., van de Rest,O., Kessels,R.P. and de Groot,L.C., (2014) J.Clin.Exp.Neuropsychol. 36:517-527 10.1080/13803395.2014.912613

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the short-term effects of glucose and sucrose on cognitive performance and mood in healthy elderly people with self-reported memory complaints. Whether there was a differential effect of glucose or sucrose on cognitive performance between participants with better vs a poorer glucose recovery.

More “Short-term effects of glucose and sucrose on cognitive performance and mood in elderly people” >

Dietary sugars and cardiometabolic risk: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of the effects on blood pressure and lipids

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Te Morenga,L.A., Howatson,A.J., Jones,R.M. and Mann,J., (2014) Am.J.Clin.Nutr. ajcn.113.081521

OBJECTIVE: To provide an indication of what might be achieved by population changes in intake of dietary sugars.

More “Dietary sugars and cardiometabolic risk: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of the effects on blood pressure and lipids” >

Sweetened beverage consumption is associated with increased risk of stroke in women and men

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Larsson,S.C., Akesson,A. and Wolk,A., (2014) J.Nutr. 144:856-860 10.3945/jn.114.190546

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the hypothesis that high consumption of sweetened beverages including soft drinks and sweetened juice, is associated with an increased risk of stroke.

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Added sugar intake in South Africa: findings from the Adult Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology cohort study

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Vorster,H.H., Kruger,A., Wentzel-Viljoen,E., Kruger,H.S. and Margetts,B.M., (2014) Am.J.Clin.Nutr. 99:1479-1486 ajcn.113.069005

OBJECTIVE: To assess the relationship between added sugar intake and Non-Communicable Disease risk factors

More “Added sugar intake in South Africa: findings from the Adult Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology cohort study” >

Association between intake of nutrients and food groups and liking for fat (The Nutrinet-Sante Study)

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Mejean,C., Deglaire,A., Kesse-Guyot,E., Hercberg,S., Schlich,P. and Castetbon,K., (2014) Appetite 78:147-155 10.1016/j.appet.2014.03.017

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the associations between liking for fat and specific nutrients or food groups (fat-and-salt, fat-and-sweet) as a determinant of dietary intake.

DESIGN: Web-based, observational cohort study. More “Association between intake of nutrients and food groups and liking for fat (The Nutrinet-Sante Study)” >

‘Obesity paradox’ misunderstands the biology of optimal weight throughout the life cycle

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Dixon,J.B., Egger,G.J., Finkelstein,E.A., Kral,J.G. and Lambert,G.W., (2014) Int.J.Obes. 10.1038/ijo.2014.59

OBJECTIVE: To argue that body weight associated with lowest mortality is influenced by aging and chronic disease with mortality advantage extending into the overweight and class 1 obese in some cases.

DESIGN: Review / Thought piece More “‘Obesity paradox’ misunderstands the biology of optimal weight throughout the life cycle” >

Using doubly labelled water to validate associations between sugar-sweetened beverage intake and body mass among White and African-American adults

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Emond,J.A., Patterson,R.E., Jardack,P.M. and Arab,L., (2014) Int.J.Obes. 38:603-609 10.1038/ijo.2013.130

OBJECTIVE: To examine sugar-sweetened beverage intake and the odds of being overweight or obese among healthy adults, and using doubly labelled water to assess the impact of reporting bias.

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Trends in dietary carbohydrate consumption from 1991 to 2008 in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort

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Makarem,N., Scott,M., Quatromoni,P., Jacques,P. and Parekh,N., (2014) Br.J.Nutr. 1-14 S0007114513004443

OBJECTIVE: To examine trends in the intake of dietary carbohydrates and their major food sources using the Framingham Heart Study Offspring (FOS) cohort.

More “Trends in dietary carbohydrate consumption from 1991 to 2008 in the Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort” >

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