Why too much sugar in your tea is as bad as alcohol

By Gatonye Gathura

If you are taking more than six teaspoons of sugar per day and gobbling other sweetened things in between, then you are a target of a new campaign to save people from sugar poisoning.

Tea and coffee lovers who take up to six cups a day each with about three spoonfuls of sugar are courting obesity, diabetes , heart problems and an early death.

It is even worse for children; with new evidence showing high sugar intake in this is to be associated with higher body weight or fatness and of course dental carries.

“A single can of fizzy drink could exceed the amount of sugar that children should have in a day,” says Dr Francesco Branca head of nutrition at the World Health Organisation.

Alarmed about piling evidence on the negative effects of added sugar on human health and its indirect contribution to weight gain, obesity and diabetes the WHO has just finished a month long public debate on how much sugar is safe to take.

Now convinced that too much added sugar, including in processed foods, is as bad if not worse than alcohol, WHO has developed draft guidelines on sugar intake.

Throughout last month, the draft had been open to public discussion over the internet and once finalised it will provide member countries with recommendations on limiting the consumption of sugar.

While such recommendations may not be mandatory, WHO may push member countries to enact laws that limit the amount of sugar allowable in processed foods including in sweets and caddies.

Such a law which is most likely to meet serious opposition from manufacturers of processed foods locally would also limit advertising of such products to both parents and children.

“With a well enforced sugar limit you do not need to worry much about advertising because low sugar content in such items will most likely cut on child addiction and hence demand,” says Dr Vincent Onywera of Kenyatta University.

Most important is to educate parents on the danger of too much sugar and how to notice how much is too much, he says..

Much of the sugars consumed today, says Dr Branca are hidden in processed foods that are not usually seen.

“For example, one tablespoon of ketchup contains around four grammes, that is around one teaspoon of sugar. A single can of sugar-sweetened soda contains up to 40g, which is around ten teaspoons of sugar.”

The suggested limits apply to all sugars added to food, as well as sugar naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates.

The Kenya National Diabetes Strategy 2010 – 2015 blames excessive energy intake on purchased meals and processed foods especially in urban areas.

“One of the most effective ways to improve diets is to regulate or provide incentives for food manufacturers to replace unhealthy ingredients or products with healthier ones,” says the national nutrition policy document.