Why you should eat less sugar
Key points
Sugar is a type of carbohydrate that is found naturally in many foods, including whole or cut fruits and vegetables, milk and dairy products. You don’t need to worry about or cut down on these types of sugar.
However, you do need to be watchful of your intake of “free sugars”.
Free sugars should make up no more than 5% of the calories you get from food and drink each day. On average, this is equal to no more than 30g/day for everyone aged 11 and above.
UK intakes of free sugars are twice what they should be, setting us up for tooth decay, weight gain, obesity, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
The main sources of free sugars in the UK diet are:
Biscuits, cakes, pastries and breakfast cereals
Table sugar, preserves and confectionery (sweets and chocolate)
Soft drinks, fruit juices and sugar added to tea and coffee
Milk and milk products (e.g. yoghurts, desserts, ice cream to name a few).
These are the foods to cut down on to curb your sugar intake – check out Sonnda’s Top 10 Tips to Eat Less Sugar to make it an absolute skoosh!
Healthy sugars
Sugar is a type of carbohydrate that is found naturally in many foods, including whole or cut fruits and vegetables, milk and dairy products. The sugars found in these foods don’t appear to have a negative effect on our health. They come all bound up with important nutrients, such as fibre, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals in fruit and veg, and protein, vitamin D, calcium and other minerals in dairy which help to support healthy bones. They’re also metabolised by the body more slowly, providing a slower, more sustained source of energy that can help regulate blood sugar levels.
You don’t need to worry about or cut down on the sugars found naturally in whole and cut fruits and vegetables, milk and dairy products.
Unhealthy sugars
When we talk about sugar being "bad" for you, we are usually referring to “free sugars” – those that are added to foods and drinks during processing or preparation or liberated from the cellular structure of foods by processing or preparation.
Thinking of optimising your health with your diet?
What are free sugars?
Free sugars are:
All sugars added to foods or drinks – whether at home, by a chef or the food manufacturer
The sugars naturally present in honey, syrups (e.g. maple, agave, golden) and nectars (e.g. blossom)
Plus those in unsweetened fruit and vegetable juices, smoothies, purées, pastes, powders and similar products in which the structure has been broken down (by juicing, blending, pulping, puréeing, or powdering), making them freely available to the body.
These sugars are free because because they're not trapped inside the cells of the food we eat. They’re free from the cellular structure of those foods, and are therefore absorbed by the body more easily and quickly.
The sugars you need to be watchful of and cut down on
Free sugars exclude:
The sugars naturally present in milk and dairy products (i.e. lactose)
Those contained within the cellular structure of foods, including those in fresh and most types of processed fruit and vegetables, in cereal grains, nuts and seeds (i.e. where the cellular structure is still intact and the body therefore has some work to do to get at them, unlike juiced or blended fruit and veg where they’re freely available).
The sugars you don’t need to worry about or cut down on
How much free sugar can you eat?
In 2015, based on evidence of their effects on health, the government’s Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) recommended that free sugars make up no more than 5% of your total energy intake (the calories you get from food and drink each day, including alcohol), for all age groups from 2 years upwards.
On average, this is equal to no more than:
30g/day for everyone aged 11 and above (7.5 teaspoons/sugar cubes a day*)
24g/day for children aged 7-10 (6 teaspoons/sugar cubes a day)
19g/day for children aged 4-6 (4.75 teaspoons/sugar cubes a day)
There wasn’t enough evidence to set a limit for children under the age of 4, but it's recommended that they do not have sugar added to their food or sugar-sweetened drinks.
*1 teaspoon of sugar or 1 sugar cube weighs roughly 4g.
How much free sugar do we actually eat?
The latest data show that a whopping 4 in 5 of us eats too much sugar! In the 2021 Scottish Health Survey, 78% of adults got more than 5% of their calories from free sugars.
And we’re not just eating a little too much either, but double what we should! As you can see from the graph I’ve created below, on average, we’re getting 10% of our calories from free sugars – that’s double the recommended maximum amount (no more than 5%).
The picture is no better elsewhere in the UK – average adult intakes are also 10% for the UK as a whole.
Actual vs recommended intake of free sugars in adults in Scotland
Gender and age differences in free sugar intake
There’s no difference in free sugar intake between men and women overall (10% for all age groups combined, see Figure 1).
However, there are differences by age with the youngest and very oldest age groups eating the most and those in between the least. As shown in Figure 2, free sugars make up:
11% of energy intake in all adults (ie men and women combined) aged 16-34
10% in those aged 35-44
9% in those aged 45-54
8% in those aged 55-74
Rising again to 10% in those aged 75+.
Age differences in intake of free sugars in Scotland
The health risks of eating too much sugar
Eating too much sugar increases your risk of:
Tooth decay
Obesity
Type 2 diabetes
Cardiovascular disease (SACN 2015).
Tooth decay
Sugar is one of the main causes of tooth decay and increases your risk of dental caries.
Weight gain
Sugar calories are extra calories. Randomised controlled trials show that increasing sugar intake leads to a corresponding increase in energy intake. In other words, when we consume calories as sugar, we don’t compensate by reducing our intake of calories from other sources. Instead, we just end up consuming more calories, predisposing to weight gain.
It doesn’t take much. At just 10% of total dietary energy intake, free sugars can lead to weight-gain in the long-term. On average, that’s how much we eat in Scotland, meaning that the average Scottish adult is consuming sugar in amounts that set them up for weight gain.
Diabetes
Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Cardiovascular disease
Eating too much sugar increases your risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), an umbrella term for conditions that affect your heart or circulation, including heart disease, stroke, and vascular dementia.
And this isn’t just the case at very high levels of intake, but also at lower levels over the long term.
Very high intakes of free sugars (at or above 20% of energy) markedly increase your risk of CVD, even in the short term:
Intakes above 20% of total dietary energy are associated with a 50% increase in the risk of death from CVD
Intakes above 25% are associated with double the risk.
This short-term increase in risk is mediated by direct, adverse effects of sugar on fat and carbohydrate metabolism, which push up various risk factors for cardiometabolic disease:
Increased liver fat
Increased abdominal fat
Increased triglycerides (fats) in the blood.
However, over the long term, sugar also increases your risk of CVD at much lower levels of intake, just 10% of energy, the current national average. This occurs due to increased body weight. The endpoint is the same – increased risk of CVD – it just takes longer to get there!
Very high sugar intakes (≥20% energy) > increased risk of CVD in the short term (via increased risk factors)
Lower sugar intakes (10% energy) > increased risk of CVD in the long term (via increased body weight)
What are the main sources of free sugars in our diets?
The main sources of free sugars in the UK diet are:
Cereals and cereal products (which includes biscuits, cakes, pastries and breakfast cereals)
Table sugar, preserves (jams and chocolate spreads) and confectionery (sweets and chocolate)
Sugary drinks (soft drinks, fruit juices and the sugars that we add to tea and coffee)
Milk and milk products (including yoghurts, desserts, ice cream, milkshakes, milk drinks, hot chocolate, and dairy milk alternatives).
These are the foods to cut down on to curb your sugar intake – check out Sonnda’s Top 10 Tips to Eat Less Sugar to make it an absolute skoosh!
The following graph (from the British Nutrition Foundation article on sugar) shows the contribution each of these different food groups makes to free sugar intakes at different ages.
The main sources of free sugars in the UK diet (figure from the British Nutrition Foundation)
Sonnda’s top 10 tips to eat less sugar
Curb your sugar intake, keep loving your food with Sonnda’s Top 10 Tips to Eat Less Sugar.
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