BMJ British Medical Journal
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New calorie labelling regulations in England
BMJ 2022; 377 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.o1079 (Published 04 May 2022)
Cite this as: BMJ 2022;377:o1079
Response
Guidelines needed to limit the total and added sugar in sweets, chocolates and beverages to safe and healthy level in India
Dear Editor
One in six people with diabetes in the world is from India. The numbers place the country among the top 10 countries for people with diabetes, coming in at number two with an estimated 77 million people affected.
The growing number of diabetes patients will continue to put India in second place right up to the year 2045. And the numbers are staggering — just over 134 million Indians will have diabetes in the next 25 years.
Diabetes, being a lifestyle disorder with multidimensional causative factors, definitely needs a multidimensional approach.
A stricter added-sugar limit of no more than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams) for most adult women and no more than 150 calories per day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for most men, and children aged 7 to 10 should have no more than 24g of free sugars a day are ideal for a healthy life.
Many health problems occur when you consume too much added sugar — that is, sugar that food manufacturers add to products to increase flavor or extend shelf life.
The effects of added sugar intake — higher blood pressure, inflammation, weight gain, diabetes, and fatty liver disease — are all linked to an increased risk for heart attack and stroke.
Reading food labels is one of the best ways to monitor your intake of added sugar.
Look for the following names for added sugar in your sweets, chocolate, beverages and try to either avoid, or cut back on the amount or frequency of the sweet rich products where they are found:
brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrates, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, malt sugar, molasses, syrup sugar, molecules ending in "ose" (dextrose, fructose, glucose, lactose, maltose, sucrose).
Total sugar, which includes added sugar, is often listed in grams. Note the number of grams of sugar per serving as well as the total number of servings. It might only say 5 grams of sugar per serving, but if the normal amount is three or four servings, you can easily consume 20 grams of sugar and thus a lot of added sugar.
It is better to control the level of total sugar and added sugar in sweets, chocolate and beverages at the production level itself and in retail shops, wholesale shops and in hotels in India.
Also, keep track of sugar you add to your sweet food or beverages.
India needs to pause and re-evaluate its strategy to combat diabetes.
Guidelines are needed to limit the total and added sugar in sweets, chocolates and beverages to safe and healthy level.
The need of the hour is to develop and implement multi-sectoral strategies to combat the growing diabetes epidemic in India.
Competing interests: No competing interests
14 May 2022
M.A. Aleem
Emeritus Professor of Neurology * Visiting Specialist in Neurology ** Consultant Neurologist ***
A.M.Hakkim,
H. Irfan Ahamed
The Tamilnadu Dr.M.G.R. Medical University * Dhanalakshami Srinivasan Medical College ** ABC Hospital ***
Chennai 600032* Perambalure 621212** Trichy 620018*** Tamilnadu India
@drmaaleem
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