Whelehans Pharmacy: Sugar intake

Ask your pharmacst

Should you half your sugar intake?

Eamonn Brady is a pharmacist and the owner of Whelehans Pharmacy, Pearse St, Mullingar. If you have any health questions e-mail them to info@whelehans.ie

 

In March 2014, the World Health Organisation (WHO) launched a public consultation to consider halving their recommendation about the amount of sugar people should have in their diet. The previous recommended sugar intake from WHO was 10% of total calorie intake. This adds up to approximately 12 teaspoons of a sugar a day based on an average 2000-calorie diet. WHO considered reducing the recommended sugar intake to 5% of total calorie intake considering the obesity epidemic worldwide. The suggested limits apply to all sugars added to food, as well as sugar naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates.

 

Dr Francesco Branca, WHO's nutrition director said in 2014 that based on current evidence. "We should aim for 5% if we can."In 2015, WHO did not change their official guidance that only 10% of total calorie intake should be sugar; however, in their 2015 “Sugar Report” they said that reducing sugar intake to only 5% of our daily calorie intake would have a massive benefit to our health.

 

The average intake of sugar is Ireland is now estimated to be 12% of total calorie intake while it rises to 15% of total calorie intake for children. An obesity study, published last year in the British Medical Journal, found while sugar did not directly cause obesity, those who consumed a lot of it, particularly in sweetened drinks, tended to put on weight as sugary food did not make them feel full.

 

Prof Tom Sanders of the School of Medicine, King's College London, said a limit of 5% added sugar "would be very tough to meet". Dr Nita Forouhi, of the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, said the 5% target was "ambitious, and challenging".

Sugar can increase heart disease

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association indicated that a diet high in sugar can increase the risk of dying of heart disease even if the person is not overweight. Over the 15-year study, participants who took in 25% or more of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those whose diets included less than 10% added sugar. Overall, the odds of dying from heart disease rose in parallel with the percentage of sugar in the diet and this was true irrespective of the person’s age, sex, physical activity level and body-mass index.

Sugar-sweetened drinks such as coke and other sweetened minerals, energy drinks, and sports drinks are by far the biggest sources of added sugar. They account for more than one-third of the added sugar consumed. Other major sources include biscuits, cakes, pastries, fruit drinks; ice cream, sweets and ready-to-eat cereals. Added sugar can even be found in foods most people would consider savory, such as salad dressing, bread and ketchup. Another major source of sugar is yogurt, which often comes with as much sugar as found in sweets. This just show how difficult it is to keep the level of sugar in our diet low. According to Dr Donal O’Shea “in 15 years' time sugary sweetened drinks like Coke will be considered effectively poison, if not banned, to those under 18," Prof O'Shea predicts "It will be like a kid smoking, that is how it will look and it just won't be acceptable."

Mullingar Information event with Dr O’Shea

Whelehans pharmacy are teaming with Ireland’s Top Obesity Expert Dr Donal O’Shea and number of health professionals including dieticians to hold a Sugar and Obesity Information Event next Monday March 7th in the Greville Arms Hotel. We have advice stands and interactive events starting at 7pm and talks starting at 7:30pm. The event has no cover charge and is sure to be popular so to avoid disappoitment book your place by calling Whelehans at 044 9334591. Parents and their children are especially welcome.

Ireland’s Top Obesity Expert Dr Donal O’Shea and number of health professionals hold a Sugar and Obesity Information Event next Monday March 7th from 7pm in the Greville Arms Hotel. Book your free place by calling Whelehans at 044 9334591 or e-mailing info@whelehans.ie