- In 2015, the government recommended limiting sugar intake to 30 grams per day
- A new study suggests that adding sugar to tea and coffee does not pose a major health risk
Adding sugar to tea or coffee may not have a negative effect on our overall health, researchers claim.
Dietary advice issued by the government in 2015 urged adults to limit sugar intake to 30 grams a day – or about seven teaspoons – to protect dental health and help combat rising rates of diabetes and obesity-related diseases. The NHS also suggests reducing the sugar in tea or coffee ‘until you can cut it out completely’ or using artificial sweeteners instead.
But a new study has found no link between sweetening the drinks and an increased risk of diabetes and premature death.
Dutch, Danish and British scientists analyzed data from the Copenhagen Male Study – which has been tracking and testing men since the 1970s. It was unclear how much sugar the men in the study added to their hot drinks, but overall, those who admitted to adding it to their tea or coffee were no more likely to have health problems than those who said they didn’t.
Dietary advice issued by the government in 2015 urged adults to limit sugar intake to 30 grams a day – or about seven teaspoons – to protect dental health and help combat rising rates of diabetes and obesity-related diseases
Weight loss expert Dr Sarah Stombaugh said: ‘This research shows that adding small amounts of sugar to our diet can be done without serious risks’
“There was no statistically significant association between the use of sugar in tea and coffee and all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer mortality, or diabetes mortality,” the authors wrote.
Despite this finding, a recent major analysis concluded that high sugar consumption is “more harmful than beneficial to health, especially in cardiometabolic diseases” – including heart attacks, strokes and diabetes. The analysis of 73 large-scale studies and more than 8,600 scientific articles revealed significant harmful links between sugar consumption, metabolic disorders and heart problems.
High sugar consumption – including sweetened drinks – was also linked to increased weight.
‘Reducing consumption of added sugars to less than six teaspoons per day and limiting sugar-sweetened drinks to less than one serving per week are recommended to reduce the adverse effects of sugars,’ they said in the British Medical Journal .
Commenting on these contradictory findings, weight loss expert Dr. Sarah Stombaugh told Medical News Today: ‘This research shows that adding small amounts of sugar to our diet can be done without serious risks.
‘At home you probably add less sugar than in the flavored coffee from a café.’