UNITED KINGDOM, January 8, 2014 (Daily Mali): “Sugar is the new tobacco,”said Simon Capewell, professor of clinical epidemiology at the University of Liverpool. Professor Capewell is part of a new US-UK campaign group — Action on Sugar — that says asking firms to make voluntary changes has failed.
The typical Briton consumes 12 teaspoons of sugar a day and some adults consume as many as 46. The maximum intake recommended by the World Health Organisation is ten, although this guideline is likely to be halved.
The UN agency says there is overwhelming evidence coming out about sugar-sweetened beverages and other sugar consumption being linked to obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
A study by Action on Sugar found surprisingly high levels of sugar in many foods, including savory products and healthy options. A Mars bar has eight teaspoons of sugar, a can of Heinz tomato soup has four teaspoons of sugar, even Glaceau Vitamin Water, which is owned by Coca-Cola, has the equivalent of four teaspoons of sugar in a 500ml bottle.
Action of Sugar said food firms should be able to reduce the amount of sugar they add to products by 20 to 30 percent within three to five years, taking 100 calories a day out of the typical diet. This would be enough to halt or even reverse rising levels of obesity and associated ill-health, it claimed.
Graham MacGregor, a professor at the Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine in London and chairman of Action on Sugar, said: “We must now tackle the obesity epidemic both in the UK and worldwide. We must start a coherent and structured plan to slowly reduce the amount of calories people consume by slowly taking out added sugar from foods and soft drinks.” Dr Aseem, the group’s science director, said: “Added sugar has no nutritional value whatsoever, and causes no feeling of satiety.”