Sugar content has been flagged as one of the main contributors of childhood obesity in the world, let us look at a recent initiative by the FDA (The Food & Drug Administration in the US).
Cardiovascular disease and diabetes are two leading causes of death in the US, responsible for over 715 thousand deaths in 2016 alone, yet both are preventable and reversible. And one of the major risk factors for both of these chronic diseases is a poor diet, partially due to excessive sugar consumption. This is something the FDA is hoping to address by making changes to nutrition labels that give consumers better access to the exact amount of added sugar they’re eating.
The FDA mandated labeling added sugar content on all packaged foods and beverages back in 2016, and the rule is supposed to go into effect by January 1, 2020 for the biggest food manufacturers, and January 1, 2021 for everyone else. But will that new label make much of a difference?
Not only is the answer yes, but according to a new study conducted by Tufts University, the change may have far-ranging impacts on Americans’ health and longevity—as well as our wallets.
This study analyzed the effects of implementing added sugars content on nutrition labels and further accounted for the effects of corresponding industry reformulation of products with fewer added sugars. The researchers calculated that between the years 2018-2037, 354,000 cases of CVD disease and 599,300 cases of diabetes could be prevented if added sugars was clearly labeled. They also found the change would save $31 billion in health care costs and help Americans gain back 727,000 quality-adjusted life years—years where one is in perfect health.
The statistics surge even higher if the food and beverage industries respond to this rule by reformulating their products to include fewer grams of added sugar. This would lead to 700,000 fewer cases of CVD disease, 1.2 million fewer cases of diabetes, 1.3 million more quality-adjusted life years, and $57 billion saved on health care.
“Clear, easy-to-understand nutrition labels help guide everyone on the path to healthy eating,” says Linda Van Horn, PHD, RDN., American Heart Association volunteer expert said in a press release. “Consumers are better empowered to make more informed food choices that will help reduce their risk for heart disease and stroke and live longer, healthier lives.”
Researchers for this study used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the CDC’s Wonder Database, policy and diet-disease effects from various meta-analyses, and policy and health-related costs from established sources. The lead author of this study noted their findings may be conservative and even underestimate the implications on our health and economy, as they only focused on two chronic diseases.
The bottom line: Americans currently consume an average of 300 calories from added sugars per day—the largest source being from sugary beverages, followed by baked goods, candies, and ice cream. The FDA advises consuming only 10% of our calories from added sugars, and keeping track of our intake with new labeling will hopefully become much easier.
In Ireland
A new report has found that one in five 5-year old’s in Ireland were either overweight or obese and children from lower income families were more likely to be unhealthily heavy for their height.
According to the latest data from Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) the national longitudinal study of children, 15 per cent of five-year olds were overweight and five per cent were obese.
The GUI study was carried out by a consortium of researchers led by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and Trinity College Dublin (TCD) and is based on interviews with more than 9,000 families conducted when the children were nine months, three years and five years old.
The study revealed that girls were more likely to be overweight or obese than boys and the risk of being overweight or obese was also greater in children in lower income families, those with overweight parents and children who had been overweight or obese at the age of three.
According to the study, “Of those who had been overweight at three, 51 per cent were overweight or obese at five and of those who had been obese at three, 75 per cent were overweight or obese at age five. Nevertheless, the fact that nearly half of those who had been overweight at age three were non-overweight by age five shows that improvement is possible.”
Overall the majority of five-year old’s were reported by their mothers to be in good health with 77 per cent described as “very healthy, no problems.” The percentage of children reported to be very healthy was even higher in the highest income families at 80 per cent.
However, the report found significant differences in relation to the health and development of children at five years old according to their gender. For example, boys were less likely to be ‘very healthy’ (74% compared to 79% of girls), more likely to have a chronic health condition (21% compared to 15%), and more likely to sustain an injury requiring medical attention (30% compared to 25%). The only area in which boys fared better than girls was in relation to being overweight/obesity (18% compared to 23% of girls).
According to the researchers, “the report highlights that children in families living in socio-economic disadvantage are already at greater risk of poor outcomes in areas as diverse as health, overweight/obesity, socio-emotional difficulties and school-readiness.”
“Longitudinally, the report further showed some persistence of outcomes over time so that children with poorer outcomes at age three were more likely to also have poorer outcomes at age five,” the researchers added.
Commenting Ms Kathryn Reilly, Policy Manager with the Irish Heart Foundation said, “This research places the crisis in children’s health in the context of childhood overweight and obesity which is increasingly prevalent, showing a trend where overweight and obesity is following children as they get older.”
“We know that Ireland faces losing a generation of children to obesity related disease if these worrying trends continue. Research by the World Obesity Federation predicts that by 2025, 241,000 schoolchildren in Ireland will be overweight or obese by 2025. As many as 9,000 will have impaired glucose intolerance; 2,000 will have type 2 diabetes; 19,000 will have high blood pressure; and 27,000 will have first stage fatty liver disease. The consequences for the future health of these children will be dire.
“Childhood obesity is a complex problem with a range of causes. Society needs to take a long-term and multi-faceted approach if we are to tackle the problem effectively, and looking at the research published today, these interventions and actions must begin as early as possible. Policies such as encouraging children to exercise more, using the proceeds of a sugar sweetened drinks tax to fund family food initiatives and clear food labeling, can play a part in improving children’s health. Another crucial area of action is to reduce the impact of food and non-alcoholic drinks that are high in fat, sugar and salt.”
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