Cutting sugar in packaged foods and beverages 'can generate major improvements in health'

Science
Sugar disease
New research shows that Americans could prevent a host of diseases if sugar was reduced by 20% in packaged foods and 40% in beverages. | stock photo

A new study shows that dropping that daily soda from your diet -- or taking other steps to reduce sugar intake from prepackaged foods and beverages -- could be the determining factor in preventing a stroke, heart attack or cardiac arrest.

Economic and health models reveal that cardiovascular disease and diabetes in the U.S. would drop considerably if the food industry reduces sugary products in 15 food categories, according to research published by Massachusetts General Hospital.

In the U.S. alone, 2.48 million incidents of cardiovascular disease could be prevented by reducing 20% of sugar from packaged foods and 40% from beverages. This action may also prevent 490,000 cardiovascular deaths and 750,000 cases of diabetes, according to Massachusetts General Hospital.

“Sugar is one of the most obvious additives in the food supply to reduce to reasonable amounts,” Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, co-senior author and dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, told Current Science Daily. “Our findings suggest it’s time to implement a national program with voluntary sugar reduction targets, which can generate major improvements in health, health disparities and health care spending in less than a decade.”

A model to simulate and quantify the health, economic and equity impacts of sugar reduction were created by a team of researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science & Policy at Tufts University, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOH).

“We hope that this study will help push the reformulation initiative forward in the next few years,” Dr. Siyi Shangguan, lead author and attending physician at Massachusetts General Hospital, told Current Science Daily. “Reducing the sugar content of commercially prepared foods and beverages will have a larger impact on the health of Americans than other initiatives to cut sugar, such as imposing a sugar tax, labeling added sugar content or banning sugary drinks in schools.”