Increasing consumption of large amounts of sugar significantly increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. In recent decades, diets around the world have changed radically, leading to a rapid increase in the percentage of the world’s population diagnosed with obesity and diabetes.
According to data published in the medical journal Lancet (cited by the BBC), by 2050, more than half of adults and a third of youth (children, adolescents and young adults) worldwide will be overweight or obese. The study, covering more than 200 countries, predicts that if current trends continue, within 25 years countries such as China, India and the United States will have the largest numbers of overweight or obese people (627 million, 450 million and 214 million people respectively). This increase will place significant additional strain on national health systems.
One of the biggest challenges of weight management is that many common foods—from yogurt and bread to ketchup and salad dressing—contain a lot of sugar that is often overlooked. “Free sugars” are any sugar added to sweeten foods or drinks, as well as sugars naturally found in honey, syrup and juices. These sugars quickly enter the bloodstream, causing a spike in blood sugar levels, unlike the sugar in fresh fruits and vegetables, where fiber slows digestion.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that intake of any added or free sugars should not exceed 10% of daily calories, with optimal intake being less than 5%. That’s about six teaspoons of sugar a day, including sugar added to foods. WHO also notes that 330 ml of the sweet carbonated drink can contain almost nine teaspoons of sugar. The rise in consumption of processed foods containing concentrated fruit juice, high fructose corn syrup and other alternative names for sugar is one of the main causes of the problem.
To assess whether you are likely to be overweight, doctors widely use body mass index (BMI), which is calculated based on height and weight. However, this indicator is not clear-cut because it does not take into account whether excess weight is due to excess fat or due to muscle growth, and does not take into account the person’s age, gender and level of physical activity.
Researchers have found that Asians, blacks and members of some ethnic minorities are at greater risk of developing chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes), even with a lower BMI, than other groups. As a result, some countries have developed new guidelines that lower BMI thresholds for these populations, which is expected to help prevent the development of weight-related diseases at an earlier stage.