Looking for a reason to unhand that éclair? Here’s your sugar takedown du jour: A new global study published in PLoS ONE found an independent, direct link between sugar in the food supply and our risk of developing diabetes. Researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine, the University of California Berkeley, and the University of California San Francisco analyzed a decade’s worth of food supply data from the United Nations, including diabetes rates and sugar availability, across 175 countries. After controlling for factors like obesity, aging, income, and total calories, the link between sugar and diabetes remained significant. For every extra 150 calories from sugar available per person each day, diabetes prevalence rises by 1.1%, the study found. (By the way, 150 calories just happens to be the number of sugar calories in a can of soda.) Conversely, reduced exposure to sugar was linked to a drop in diabetes prevalence. This relationship was unique among food types. Categories like protein, fat, and fiber didn’t show a significant link to diabetes. Neither did total caloric intake. Lately, sugar can’t seem to catch a break. One recent book, Fat Chance, indicts sugar as the root of many diseases. “A calorie is not a calorie,” says Robert Lustig, MD, the book’s author and a co-author of the California study. His research suggests that calories from different food types are metabolized differently in the body—for instance, those from super-sweet fructose are metabolized in the liver, whereas those from glucose can be metabolized by the whole body. And Dr. Lustig isn’t alone in suggesting that sugar plays a key role in diabetes. Last fall, a study published in Global Public Health found a strong link between high fructose corn syrup and an increased risk of type 2 diabetes worldwide. So if sugar consumption might be a driver of diabetes, how can you cut back? Learn the culprits. Even if you ditch the morning pastry, sugar can easily wriggle its way into your diet. From your bread to your salad dressing, non-sweet foods are often vehicles for sugar. (Learn more about the 5 Sources of Sugar You’d Never Expect.) Read your labels. Sugar travels under some surreptitious names. (Hint: anything with an –ose at the end is sugar.) Get the details on 10 Sneaky Names For Sugar to avoid the offenders. Detox your pantry. We know how hard it is to avoid a boatload of added sugar in packaged foods—and how easy it is for companies to conceal it. That’s why we started the Cleanest Packaged Food Awards, a collection of our favorite bagged and boxed brands. Each winner has fewer than 10 grams of added sugar, so snack happily. Questions? Comments? Contact Prevention’s News Team.
