Is Sugar Consumption Detrimental to Health? A Review of the Evidence 1995—2006

Abstract

Many countries set quantitative targets for added sugars, justifying this by expressing concern about the likely impact of sugar on weight control, dental health, diet quality, or metabolic syndrome. This review considers whether current intakes of sugar are harmful to health, and analyses recent literature using a systematic approach to collate, rank, and evaluate published studies from 1995-2006. Results from high quality obesity studies did not suggest a positive association between body mass index and sugar intake. Some studies, specifically on sweetened beverages, highlighted a potential concern in relation to obesity risk, although these were limited by important methodological issues. Diet adequacy appeared to be achieved across sugar intakes of 6 to 20% energy, depending on subject age. Studies on metabolic syndrome reported no adverse effects of sugar in the long-term, even at intakes of 40-50% energy. The evidence for colorectal cancer suggested an association with sugar, but this appeared to have been confounded by energy intake and glycemic load. There was no credible evidence linking sugar with attention-deficit, dementia, or depression. Regarding dental caries, combinations of sugar amount/frequency, fluoride exposure, and food adhesiveness were more reliable predictors of caries risk than the amount of sugar alone. Overall, the available evidence did not support a single quantitative sugar guideline covering all health issues.

Análisis de los alimentos publicitados entre la audiencia infantil en la televisión chilena

“…26,27 En Chile, el consumo aparente de estos azúcares es de 13.7% de las calorías totales. 28 Los azúcares incrementan la densidad de energía de la dieta promoviendo un balance energético positivo, y su elevada ingesta se vincula a un mayor riesgo de obesidad.…”

Reducao do uso de acucar em escolas publicas: ensaio randomizado por conglomerados

“…20 Moreover, it is believed that a high sugar diet may also contain lower levels of micronutrients (dilution effect) 3 and may be nutritionally defi cient. 13 There was no decrease in the school lunch cooks' carbohydrate intake, an aim of the study, nor was there a decrease in protein or lipid intake. Studies show that the adoption of multiple dietary strategies, aiming to improve dietary quality, may be more effective than focusing on one single strategy.…”

“…A recent systematic review 13 concluded that sugar intake is not related to adverse health effects, such as obesity and metabolic syndrome, and some authors believe that sugar intake has no direct causal link to obesity. In spite of this, sugar contributes to high caloric density of the diet, 2,11 which can lead to weigh gain.…”

“…However, the main sources of sugar have changed: soft drinks, which represented 0.8% of sugar intake in 1988, increased to 1.3% in 1996, 1.5% in 2003 5 and 1.8% in 2008. a Although there is no consensus on the impact of sugar intake in isolation on obesity and other health conditions, 13 its increase has meant that, in Brazil and the United States, b the public are advised to choose food and drink which will decrease their added sugar intake. In 2003, the World Health Organization (WHO), suggested that added sugars should provide no more than 10% of energy intake in the diet.…”

Dietary Sucrose and CD36 Receptor in Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)

“…7,12 Numerous epidemiologic studies show a link between sugars sugar consumption, particularly in the form of sugar-sweetened beverages, and various adverse metabolic consequences. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19] A small amount of the fructose taken up by the liver may be converted in the process of lipogenesis into fatty acids (FA). These FA are converted to triglycerides in the hepatocytes and are released into the systemic circulation complexed with the VLDL.…”