The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) – an independent body of public health experts – published its long-awaited Carbohydrates and Health report last month, declaring it to be the “wake-up call we need to rethink our diet”.
The report recommends that free sugars should account for no more than 5% of daily energy intake, a halving of the 10% guidance level contained in the draft version, issued last year. The report also calls for a big increase in the amount of fibre people eat.
SACN says a cut in dietary sugar is vital to address the growing obesity and diabetes crises. The new recommended amount is equivalent to 19g for children aged four to six; 24g for children aged seven to ten; and 30g for those 11 years and over.
SACN also recommends that the term ‘free sugars’ is adopted to replace the terms non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES) and ‘added sugars’ and suggests that the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks should be minimized by both children and adults. The new guidance level for sugar would mean that a single (330mm) can of a typical fizzy drink would use up almost an entire daily recommended allowance.
“The evidence is stark – too much sugar is harmful to health and we all need to cut back”
“The evidence is stark – too much sugar is harmful to health and we all need to cut back. The clear and consistent link between a high-sugar diet and conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes is the wake-up call we need to rethink our diet,” commented Professor Ian Macdonald, chair of the SACN Carbohydrates and Health working group. “Cut down on sugars, increase fibre and we’ll all have a better chance of living longer, healthier lives.”
The report also looked at the amount of carbohydrates and fibre being consumed, and the link to health outcomes and recommended that the current recommendation that starchy carbohydrates, wholegrain where possible, should form 50% of daily calorie intake is maintained; and that those aged 16 and over increase their intake of fibre to 30g a day, 25g for 11-15-year-olds, 20g for five-to 11-year-olds and 15g for two-to-five-year-olds.
The SACN publication comes on the back of the news that the government has delayed Public Health England’s review on what practical measures could be put in place to help reduce the nation’s sugar intake, which should also have been published today.
Delayed publication of the PHE report has been met with criticism from health campaigners. Malcolm Clark, co-ordinator of the Children’s Food Campaign, responded to the news: “The government’s scrapping of Public Health England’s recommendations on sugar reduction looks like deplorable complacency in the face of a health epidemic. We hope this will not turn out to be an anti-science government. But so far it has chosen to ditch the publication of an evidence review, produced by academics, on possible marketing and fiscal measures to help people reduce their sugar consumption. It has refused to listen to the mass of evidence supporting a sugary drinks duty. It has not apparently heeded the lessons that made food promotion so ill-suited to be dealt with through voluntary agreements. And it is ignoring repeated calls by doctors, dentists and other public health experts to close loopholes in the rules that currently allow the marketing of unhealthy food to children.”
He added: “There is only so long the government can stick its fingers in its ears and ignore the scale of the problem. For the sake of the nation’s health and the NHS’s budgets, a different approach, with robust measures and regulation, is needed.”
