High temperatures enhance sugar consumption, and increase health concerns

High temperatures lead to high sugar consumption

Written by Andrea Thompson It was liberated by Brigadier Founder

When the heat starts, the ice cream siren song begins to drift through the air, and the lemon is continued by adventurous neighborhood children floating along the sidewalks. Often these sweet foods are synonymous with the summer, and a new study has found that the US sugar consumption increases significantly with high temperatures. This increase is especially clear between certain groups of people and raises concerns about health effects as climate continues to heat.

A large part of research on global warming and food has so far been seen on how climate changes affect, for example, on crop revenues or food content or how food production and consumption contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. Ban Hu, an environmental scientist at Cardiff University in Wales, did the idea of ​​looking at the opposite relationship: how high temperatures affect food consumption. She and her colleagues decided to focus on sugar because excessive consumption represents a known problem in the United States and is related to diabetes, heart disease and certain types of cancer.

The researchers have paired with temperature data with a unique data collection that showed family grocery purchases around the United States from 2004 to 2019 and used purchases as an alternative to consumption. They found a slight difference in consumption less than 12 ° C (about 54 degrees Fahrenheit). But between that temperature and 30 ° C (86 ° F), something happened: consumption increased by 0.7 grams per degree C.

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Most of the total increase in additive drinks, such as soft drinks or fruit drinks, came, unlike the juice by 100 percent. Frozen sweets such as ice cream or lubricants have provided smaller contribution. There was a slight Decrease In consuming sugary foods such as cakes or cookies, indicating that people may replace refrigerated treatments for other options.

It provokes the increase because the average daily sugar recommended for a diet is about 2,400 people about 60 grams-and a can of soda can have about 40.

There were noticeable differences in consumption patterns. People with higher levels of income or educational attainment showed a slight change in sugar consumption, as temperatures increased compared to those with low income or less formal education. “The difference can reach more than five times,” says Duo Chan, co -author of the study, a climate scientist at Southampton University in England. “That is why a big difference, and I think this should raise some concerns and awareness among society.”

The difference can be linked to a number of factors: Those who have the highest reliable access income often have to safely drinking tap water. It tends to work in internal environments, as air conditioning may mean that there is less need to stay wet. They may be more aware of the possible health consequences for high sugar consumption.

The researchers expected, without any interventions, that consuming sugar in the United States will continue to rise with the continued warming caused by a person.

In addition to addressing the root causes of climate change, the methods of treating this problem can include increasing nutritional education, which requires that sugar content be named prominently on packaging or an additional sugar tax. Such a tax is already in the UK, and “sees a very big difference” at the price of regular soda against the diet. Other strategies can address two problems at the same time: for example, drinking water that can be accessed and broken in open air work, such as farms or construction sites, may reduce the consumption of sugary drinks-as well as the general risk of heat-related diseases.

Alice Lesteinstein, a nutritionist at the University of Tafs, who has not participated in the new study, says she wants to see more research on how to compare the possibility of these drinks with these aqueous to the deprived groups in an attempt to reach possible interventions. “We need to understand more about what behaviors are to make negative health decisions, such as increasing drinking drinks with sugar in hot weather, and I use this information to design strategies to relieve behaviors,” she says.

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