
Demonising a single nutrient is not helpful. Diet is complicated, a combination of nutrients and their interactions.
It is not over eating one single nutrient, but eating too much as a whole that causes weight gain and obesity. We don’t just eat sugar on its own, it is generally in combination with other nutrients especially fat e.g. cakes, biscuits, doughnuts. Demonising sugar could lead to obsessive behaviour as sugar is found in a lot of foods. Total avoidance is very hard and time consuming. It will mean cooking from scratch and not being able to use many convenience foods.
Some people need more energy in their diet (if they are underweight, have an illness such as cancer or are recovering from disease or surgery). Diabetics need sugar to treat a hypo and metabolic patients that I work with need sugary drinks when they are unwell to prevent a metabolic crisis. An easy way to increase calories into the diet could be to add a spoonful of sugar into foods such as porridge. Sensational headlines making people believe that sugar is bad or toxic could hinder their recovery or treatment of these people.
The latest NDNS in the UK showed that only 27% of adults were meeting the 5 a day recommendation of fruit and vegetables and this has not increased over time.
Fibre intakes are also below recommendations. How about focusing more on foods that we should include more in our diet. How about singing the praises of fruit and veg and encouraging people to eat more instead of telling us what we shouldn’t eat at all.
