WeeklySA_AdminSugar: South Africa is among the world’s most populous nations with the highest sugary drink intake
By Monk Nkomo
The rate at which millions of young people were consuming sugar-sweetened beverages, should raise alarm bells in every nation worldwide as this posed a significant threat to public health with most people exposed to a concoction of maladies including diabetes and kidney diseases.
According to research from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University in the USA, new global analysis of the dietary habits of children and adolescents from 185 countries revealed that youths, on average, consumed nearly 23% more sugar-sweetened beverages in 2018 compared to 1990. Overall, intakes were similar in boys and girls, but higher in teens, urban residents and children of parents with lower levels of education.
South Africa has been listed among the world’s most populous nations with the highest sugary drink intake by youths in 2018 with 6,2 servings per week. Other countries included Mexico with 10,1 servings, Uganda (6,9), Pakistan (6,4) and the USA with 6,2 servings per week. This acceleration, researchers, said, needed urgent attention to help people live healthy lives.
Researchers have warned that frequently drinking sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) was associated with weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart and kidney diseases, tooth decay, non-alcoholic liver diseases and gout.
The South African government, in an attempt to reduce its citizens’ sugar intake and to curb obesity and other diseases, introduced tax on sugar-sweetened beverages also known as the Health Promotion Levy (HPL) in April, 2018.
The study from the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, drew from the Global Dietary Database, a large comprehensive compilation of what people around the world ate or drank, to generate the first global estimates and trends of sugar-sweetened beverage intake in youths. These were defined as soda, juice drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks, and home-sweetened fruit drinks such as aguas frescas with added sugars and containing more than 50 kcal per 1 cup serving.
Incorporating data from over 1,200 surveys from 1990 through 2018 in a large model, the research team found that youth (defined as those aged 3 to 19 years) were drinking more and had nearly twice the overall intake of adults.
The research team’s definition of sugary drinks excluded 100% fruit juices, non-caloric artificially sweetened drinks and sweetened milks.
Sugar-sweetened beverage intake among young people varied dramatically by world region, averaging 3.6 servings per week globally and ranging from 1.3 servings per week in South Asia to 9.1 in Latin America and the Caribbean. The researchers found that children and teens in 56 countries, representing 238 million young people or 10% of the global youth population, averaged 7 or more servings per week.
“Sugary beverages increase weight gain and risk of obesity, so even though kids don’t often develop diabetes or cardiovascular disease when they are young, there could be significant impacts later in life,” said first author, Laura Lara-Castor, a recent graduate of the Friedman School and now a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Washington.
“This study highlights the need for targeted education and policy interventions to change behaviour early on and prevent the adverse outcomes associated with sugar-sweetened beverage intake in childhood.”
In recent years, many governments worldwide have been implementing measures such as soda taxes and restrictions on the sale of sugary drinks in schools to promote healthy dietary habits. These efforts were new and also faced strong opposing forces such as aggressive industry marketing and the globalization of the food sector.
“Our findings should raise alarm bells in nearly every nation worldwide,” according to senior author Dariush Mozaffarian, Jean Mayer Professor of Nutrition and director of the Food is Medicine Institute at the Friedman School. “The intakes and trends we are seeing pose a significant threat to public health, one we can and must address for the future of a healthier population.”
Limiting sugary drink intake can help individuals maintain a healthy weight and have healthy dietary patterns. Researchers have called for integrated intervention strategies requiring multi-sectoral engagement to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks and to prevent obesity in the long run.
‘’ The Health Promotion Levy should form part of a multi-pronged approach that includes fiscal measures, consumer education and controlled marketing of sugar-sweetened beverages to create a supportive environment in which consumers make healthy choices , for instance, the combination of education, effective food labelling and banning of sugar-sweetened beverages to children.’’
FACT FILE ON SUGAR-SWEETENED BEVERAGES
• Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are any liquids that are sweetened with various forms of added sugars like brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar and sucrose.
• Examples of SSBs include, but are not limited to, regular soda (not sugar-free), fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened waters and coffee and tea beverages with added sugars.
• SSB consumption varies by age, sex, race/ethnicity, geography and socioeconomic status.
• In 2011-2014, at least six in 10 youths (63%) and 5 in 10 adults (49%) drank a sugar-sweetened beverage on a given day.
• Among youth, SSB intake is higher among boys, adolescents, non-Hispanic Black youth, or youth in families with low incomes.
• About 31% of adults in nonmetropolitan countries and 25% of adults in metropolitan countries reported drinking SSBs one or more times per day.
• SSB consumption is also associated with less healthy behaviours.
• Adults and adolescents who smoke, do not get enough sleep, do not exercise much, eat fast food often, and who do not eat fruit regularly are more likely to be frequent consumers of SSBs. Additionally, adolescents who frequently drink SSBs also have more screen time, including more time with televisions, cell phones, computers and video games.
