NUTRITION experts are calling for hidden sugars to be unmasked on our supermarket shelves, with a new study revealing about 70 per cent of packaged foods contain added sugar.
The study by The George Institute for Global Health found almost three-quarters of packaged food contains hidden sugar.
The Australian institute is now calling for added sugar to be declared on packaging and used in the Health Start Rating (HSR) food labelling system. Under the current system only total sugar needs to be reported on food labels and used when calculating the HSR.
The George Institute's Bruce Neal said there was a clear need to differentiate between added sugars and total sugars.
"Good sugars are an integral part of a healthy diet and we need to be able to separate sugars naturally present in dairy, fruits and vegetables from sugars added during manufacturing," Professor Neal said.
"Added sugars are empty calories and a major contributing factor to the obesity epidemic and tooth decay.
"Australians would be much better off if they could quickly and easily see how much sugar has been added."
The study analysed more than 34,000 packaged foods, including energy-dense and nutrient poor discretionary foods (such as cakes, pies, ice cream, pastries, processed meats, potato chips and soft drink) and core foods that form the basis of a healthy diet (like cheese, milk, yoghurt or plain cereals such as oats).
It found that discretionary foods contained on average almost four times more added sugar than core foods. Yet discretionary foods such as muesli bars, jam, rice puddings and chutney, which contain a lot of added sugar, still get a relatively high HSR in the current system.
Study co-author Sanne Peters said the results showed that the HSR should be worked out using the added sugar.
"One of the key criticisms of the HSR has been that is doesn't always align with the Australian Dietary Guidelines. Using added sugars instead of total sugars means it does a much better job of this," Dr Peters said.
The US has announced food manufacturers will have to include total and added sugars on food labels from next year.
Sugary facts
- There are at least 42 different names on food labels for added sugar including sucrose, muscovado and turbinado.
- The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend that just 10 per cent of an adult's diet should come from added sugar. But at least half of Australians consume more.
- Soft drinks, energy and sports drinks, as well as fruit and vegetable juice, make up about a third of the added sugars in our diets.
- Consumers could avoid 26 teaspoons of sugar a day, and up to 38.3kg a year, if they could identify added sugars on food packs, according to a recent study by Australian consumer advocacy group Choice.
