Added sugars are increasing rapidly in the diets of people living in developing countries, while many high-income countries are seeing slight decline in consumption.

‘Added sugars of all kinds are increasing rapidly in the diets of people living in developing countries, particularly when it comes to beverages. On the contrary, many high-income countries are beginning to see a slight decline in sugar consumption.’

The authors wrote in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, "Sugar consumption is rising fastest in low and middle-income countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania. The four regions with the current highest consumption are Latin America, North America, Australasia and Western Europe, though intakes are beginning to decline in the latter three."





Professor Barry M Popkin from the University of North Carolina said, "The added sugar comes from hundreds of different versions of sugar, all of which have the same equal health effect. In the absence of intervention, the rest of the world will move towards a similar pervasiveness of added sugars in the entire packaged food and beverage supply."
After analyzing nutritional data sets from around the world, the authors found that trends in sales of sugar-sweetened beverages around the world are increasing in terms of calories sold per person per day and volume sold per person per day.
Because of the major health risks associated with added caloric sweetener consumption, the World Health Organization (WHO) is promoting major initiatives to reduce the intake.
Many governments have already implemented policies with this goal, including taxation, reduction of availability in schools, restrictions on marketing of sugary foods to children, public awareness campaigns and front-of-pack labeling.
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The researchers said, "The evaluation of not only sugar taxes but also new marketing controls and front-of-pack labeling is important and represents one of the next frontiers."
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