Survey Shows Brits in the Dark Over Sugar Consumption
A survey has revealed that most British people are unaware that they are consuming foods and drinks that contain high sugar content.
‘Healthy’ juice drinks are perhaps the worst offender, with most people assuming that a glass of fruit juice contains just a teaspoon or two of sugar when in reality, the content is often much higher and some juices, including one brand of pomegranate juice, contained a staggering 22 teaspoons of sugar.
The study, which was carried out by researchers at the University of Glasgow, revealed that many people are adding up to 450 calories to their daily intake as a result of consuming sugary drinks; researchers found that the average Brit consumes 3,144 calories through non-alcoholic drinks per week.
During the research process, more than 2,000 people were asked about the sugar content of a range of different drinks and researchers discovered that most people vastly underestimated the sugar content of popular beverages.
Half of those surveyed admitted to drinking three or more sugary drinks per day but said that they did not factor this in when considering their daily intake of calories and almost a third of people said they did not include calories from drinks when dieting.
Sugary drinks are not only calorific, which contributes to weight gain and associated health problems, including diabetes, heart disease and an increased risk of cancer, but they are also extremely harmful to oral health, increasing the risk of gum disease and decay significantly.
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