UK - Reducing sugar in sweetened drinks could prevent 300,000 diabetes cases - The Lancet

[Gert van der Hoek]

Published on January 8, 2016

A new study published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology journal suggests that reducing sugar content in sugar sweetened drinks (including fruit juices) in the UK by 40% over five years, without replacing them with any artificial sweeteners, could prevent 500,000 cases of overweight and 1 million cases of obesity, in turn preventing around 300,000 cases of type 2 diabetes, over two decades. The study is by Professor Graham MacGregor and colleagues at Queen Mary University of London, UK.

The appreciation of sweetness can adapt to gradual changes in sugar intake, and it is unlikely that the proposed strategy will influence the consumers’ choice provided the gradual reduction is done over five years.

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