Action on Sugar: New global campaign takes aim at high level of sugar in foods and drinks

By Nathan Gray

- Last updated on GMT

Action on Sugar: Global compaign takes aim at high sugar foods

Related tags Sugar Nutrition

A new global campaign will bring together experts and policy makers to tackle the current global epidemic of obesity and diabetes by reducing 'unnecessarily high' levels of sugar in food and beverage products.

The campaign, called Action on Sugar, will take aim at foods that contain high levels of sugar in a bid to encourage industry to lower sugar levels.

The group, led by international experts in metabolism and obesity, aims to make consumers more aware of 'hidden sugars', and to reduce sugar in food and drinks containing added sugars by 30% in the next three to five years.

“Sugar is the new tobacco," ​said Professor Simon Capewell from the University of Liverpool. "Everywhere, sugary drinks and junk foods are now pressed on unsuspecting parents and children by a cynical industry focussed on profit not health."

Speaking with FoodNavigator, Action on Salt chairman Professor Graham MacGregor explained that the group will follow a similar framework to that of Consensus Action on Salt and Health (CASH) - which has pioneered campaigns that have led to UK industry slashing salt levels by 15% in ten years.

“We must now tackle the obesity epidemic both in the UK and worldwide," ​said MacGregor. "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."

"This is a simple plan which gives a level playing field to the food industry, and must be adopted by the Department of Health to reduce the completely unnecessary and very large amounts of sugar the food and soft drink industry is currently adding to our foods.” 

Obesity link

The Action on Sugar group believes that reducing this 'hidden' sugar in foods can go a long way towards battling obesity and other non-communicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes - both of which have been linked to increased consumption of sugar and additional calories.

Indeed, MacGregor told us that an estimated 30% reduction in added sugars could result in a reduction in calorie intake of 70 to 100 calories per day - enough to halt and possibly reverse global obesity trends.

Industry backlash

Commenting on the formation of the group, Barbara Gallani, director of regulation, science & health at the Food and Drink Federation said that sugars - or any other nutrient - consumed as part of a varied and balanced diet were not a cause of obesity.

“Food and drink producers in the UK have taken action to reduce salt and saturated fat in the diet, in line with robust evidence linking excessive consumption of these nutrients with a negative impact on health,"​ she said.

Adding to the FDF comments, Dr Glenys Jones, nutrition communications manager at Sugar Nutrition UK said the claims made by Action on Sugar 'are not supported by the consensus of scientific evidence'.
"It is simply not right to say that reducing the amount of sugar in foods will always result in a reduction of calories,"​ Jones stated. "In most cases the sugar will need to be replaced by another ingredient and the reformulated recipes can contain more calories than the original."

"There have also been numerous studies, which have investigated potential links between sugar and diabetes, with experts from the British Dietetic Association, European Food Safety Authority, and Institute of Medicine being very clear that diabetes is not caused by eating sugar,"​ she added.

Gallani also remarked that industry had already worked to reduce sugar in products where this would result in an overall calorie reduction.

"Delivering on these commitments will require considerable research and investment as well as consumer acceptance of new recipes that can result in changes in taste, texture and ingredients,”​ she warned.

Are sugar calories different?

Dr Robert Lustig rebutted suggestions that when consumed as part of a varied and balanced diet, sugar is not a cause of obesity - arguing all calories are not created equally.

"It's very simple, the food industry will continue the mantra that a calorie is a calorie until they are shown otherwise,"​ said the University of California expert.

"The bottom line is that if a calorie ​is really just a calorie then everything they say is right. But if a calorie ​is not a calorie then everything they say is wrong," ​he added. "And we now have scientific documentation for both mechanistic data - in animal and human models -  and empirical data that show that a calorie is not a calorie."

Lustig commented that the evidence that a calorie is not a calorie 'is now becoming a tsunami of evidence' - and warned that industry must listen and take action to cut sugar as it has with salt.

"You can say that it is fine to sell something when you don't hurt people, but if you sell something that hurts people then we have got a problem,"​ he said. "That's what happened with tobacco."

Related news

Show more

Related products

show more

Oat Groats – Heat-treated Oat Kernels

Oat Groats – Heat-treated Oat Kernels

Content provided by Lantmännen Biorefineries AB | 06-Dec-2023 | Product Brochure

Lantmännen offers now Oat Groats: Heat-treated oat kernels, also known as oat groats or kilned oats, undergo heat treatment to inhibit enzymes that could...

Oat Beta-glucan – Clean Label Texturizer

Oat Beta-glucan – Clean Label Texturizer

Content provided by Lantmännen Biorefineries AB | 21-Nov-2023 | White Paper

In today's health-conscious world, consumers seek transparent labels and natural ingredients.

Sweetening solutions for active nutrition

Sweetening solutions for active nutrition

Content provided by ADM: Innovation that Feeds the Future | 13-Oct-2023 | Case Study

When you add GrainSweet® Liquid Maltodextrin to your active nutrition applications you get the manufacturing efficiencies, cleaner labels and clean tastes...

6 comments

Show more

try cutting out sugar for yourself

Posted by paula grace,

having read Sugar Blues by William Dufty i was convinced and convinced by husband to try cutting out all sugar. He lost 11kg over a year. my emotional stability is restored and i have no menopause symptoms though i'm going through it. i put it down to cutting out sugar. try it yourself and measure your own results. Its is amazing!

Report abuse

Do our Butz look big in this??

Posted by Sweet Missavenger,

You bettya! Fructose (half of sucrose/sugar) which is added to foods is turned into fat. Fact. Professor Yudkin recognised this & was overruled by Ancel Keys in favour of his saturated fat theory, based on minimum rations, & limited data, but backed by the US government at the time (late 60's) & subsequently set guidelines for the Heart Foundation. Taking fat from food removed flavour & food manufacturers added more sweeteners & salt to increase that. In the early 70's Earl Butz had helped to arrange a sale in the hope of giving a boost to crop prices in order to tempt farmers to vote for George McGovern. He was featured in the documentary King Corn, recognised as the person who started the rise of corn production, large commercial farms, and the abundance of corn in American diets. HFCS is fructose & the main cause of obesity today in America, normal fructose from sucrose & other natural sweeteners is the cause in the rest of the world.

Report abuse

Preservative and Bulk

Posted by Susan Ploetz,

Don't forget that a lot of sugar is added to bulk a product not necessarily just for taste and flavour. This can also be seen in cereals which are deemed to be healthy. The focus is on 'low fat' foods indicating that they are healthy but forgetting that the fat will be substituted with sugar. Learn to cook with fresh ingredients and you will know what is in your food.

Report abuse

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars