Shock statistics on sugar in fizzy drinks, sweetened fruit juice
JUST one 330ml can of carbonated soft drink in South Africa has an average of 40g of sugar, while the same size sweetened fruit juice has approximately 45g.
Drinking a single sugar-sweetened beverage daily increases the likelihood of an adult being overweight by 27% for adults and 55% for children.
These figures are among the findings by six Wits University researchers, which are presented in a paper titled “Cost of inaction on sugar-sweetened beverage consumption: implications for obesity in South Africa”.
The researchers constructed a mathematical simulation model to estimate the effect of an annual increase in sugar-sweetened beverage consumption on the prevalence of obesity, based on the 2.4% projected industry growth rate projected by Euromonitor International for 2013 to 2017.
“As part of the nutrition transition in South Africa, it is increasingly difficult to make healthy choices, as energy dense foods have become more affordable and widely available. “This has seen the increase in availability of and access to SSB (sugar-sweetened beverage) in lower income groups and the commensurate growth of this segment of consumers,” the paper states. In South Africa, 11% of the adult male population is obese, and 39% of women are obese.
Those living within a lower socioeconomic standard added up to almost 7 million adults earning less than R3 500 a month.
“Access to unhealthy but affordable foods and beverages in this demographic group has increased over the last few years due to expansion of supermarkets into informal urban settlements and rural areas.
Demands
“This has resulted in a simultaneous double burden of malnutrition characterised by both over-nutrition (overweight, obesity) and under-nutrition (underweight, wasting, stunting)”, the paper says.
Researchers noted: “Demands to implement fiscal measures to reduce SSB consumption are growing in several other countries, including India, Ireland, the UK and Australia. In October 2013 Mexico passed a tax on SSB and junk food, followed by Chile in January 2015. Hungary and France also have newly introduced SSB taxes.
A South African modelling study estimated that a 20% SSB tax would significantly reduce obesity in men and women.
The researchers say: “To meet the South African target of reducing the number of people who are obese and/or overweight by 10% by 2020, the country cannot afford to delay implementing effective interventions.” SMARTPHONES, tablets and ereaders need to be built with a “bed mode” to help users get to sleep quicker, experts have said.
New devices were being built with bigger, “bluer and brighter” screens that impact the body’s ability to produce sleep-inducing hormones, according to a team of researchers.
Paul Gringas, from Evelina Children’s Hospital in London, said his team found the problem was getting worse, and it was time for manufacturers to take responsibility.
Screens produce a bright light that can stop the body producing melatonin – the sleep hormone – which is produced naturally as the evening becomes darker.
Blue and green wavelengths of light affect the production of melatonin the most, as well as raising alertness in people at a time when they should be feeling sleepier.
Gringas noted in the research findings, published in Frontiers in Public Health, that newer models of phones and tablets were “bluer”.
“Hardware should shift blue and green light emissions to yellow and red as well as reduce backlight/ light intensity,” he said.– The Independent