The document discusses research showing that reducing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption through gradual reductions in sugar content over 5 years could help reduce obesity rates. A study estimated that decreasing sugar in beverages in the UK by 40% over 5 years through annual 9.7% reductions could result in approximately 0.5 million fewer cases of overweight and 1 million fewer cases of obesity. This level of reduction could also prevent between 15,000 and 20,000 new cases of type 2 diabetes per year. Experts discuss the potential for such an incremental approach to sugar reduction to succeed where other policies have failed and produce significant public health benefits.

1. BY: Ann Murry Dinglasa

2.  Obesity is an epidemic among adults and children in
developed countries
- major contributor to obesity is sugar-sweetened
beverages
 This research appeared on May 2009 issue of the
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition with 810 adult
participants.
 Researchers found that a reduction of 1 serving of sugar-
sweetened beverages per day was associated with a
mean weight loss from baseline of 0.49 kg at 6 mos., and
this mean reduction had grown to 0.65 kg by 18 mos.
 Overall, reducing caloric consumption from beverages
was associated with improved weight loss compared with
caloric restriction from solid foods.

3.  Establishment of a policy whereby manufacturers slowly
and imperceptibly reduce the amount of sugar in
sweetened beverages during a 5-year period.
 The findings were published online January 6 in Lancet
Diabetes & Endocrinology by Yuan Ma, a PhD student at
Peking University, Beijing, China, along with colleagues.

4.  According to their estimates, small annual reductions in
the sugar content of sugar-sweetened beverages of just
less than 10% - totaling 40% by 5 years – would result in
approximately a 2-percentage-point reduction in obesity
overall in the United Kingdom.
 Another report, published in the BMJ on January 8,
shows that, 1 year after a 10% sugar tax was introduced
on sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico, there has
been a moderate reduction in sales, by as much as 12%
per month in some cases, and a 4% increase in
purchases of untaxed beverages.

5. Graham A. MacGregor, MBBChir, FRCP
– study’s principal investigator ; a
professor of cardiovascular medicine and
chair of Action on Sugar.

6.  consortium that is working to reach a consensus with
the food industry and the UK govt. to improve public
health by reducing the amount of sugar in
processed foods
 He told Medscape medical news that the current
study was aimed to quantifying the benefits of such
a policy, which is modeled after a salt-reduction
program instituted in the UK in 2003-2004, also led
by him, and which is credited with a 42% decrease
in stroke mortality within 8 years, among other health
benefits.
 All food products in the UK now contain 30% to 40%
less salt than they did previously.
 First they set it up in the UK, and then once they’ve
demonstrated that it’s possible to get the food
industry to work with it, they spread it out to the rest
of the world.

7. Tim Lobstein, PhD – (Curtin University,
Perth, Western Australia) World Obesity
Federation policy director.
- assumes people would not
compensate for the sugar reduction by
changing their diet.

8. Tim Lobstein, PhD

9.  Yuan Ma and his colleagues modeled a
gradual reduction of 9.7% per year in the
amount of free sugars added to sugar-
sweetened beverages, aiming for a 40%
reduction at 5 years.
 They used nationally representative data from
the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey
rolling program from 2008-2012.
 British Soft Drinks Association – reports to
calculate sugar-sweetened beverage
consumption (both with and without fruit
juices)

10. Results :
Weight loss (per individual and per
population)
Decrease of overweight/obesity
Type 2 diabetes

11. This would amount to approximately 0.5
million fewer cases of overweight and 1.0
million fewer cases of obesity in the UK.
The resulting 1.5% reduction in BMI would
in turn prevent between 274,000 and
309,000 new cases of type 2 diabetes for
the next 2 decades, or roughly 15,000
cases per year.
Yuan Ma and colleagues performed the
same calculations with the fruit juices
excluded from the category of sugar-
sweetened beverages.

12. Yuan Ma and colleagues performed the
same calculations with the fruit juices
excluded from the category of sugar-
sweetened beverages. -
31.0 – kcal intake reduction per day –
leading to a 0.96-kg body-weight reduction
Obesity of 0.7 and 1.7 percentage points.

13. Incremental sugar reduction would work on
a large scale that has been first seen with
salt.
“Once you get used to it, you prefer foods
with less salt and sugar.” - Dr. MacGregor
Dr. Lobstein points out that a successful
obesity-prevention policy will need to
include several elements beyond sugar
reduction

14. Dr MacGregor said that British Prime
Minister David Cameron is due to
announce an obesity-prevention plan
toward the end of February. “if Cameron
did produce a successful obesity plan, he
would leave a great legacy… it would be of
great benefit to the UK and the rest of the
world”