Just as bad as booze

Sugar is "the new tobacco". It is as addictive as heroin and is the alcohol of childhood.

These are some of the terms used by nutrition experts in the fight against sugar.

Though some doctors argue that sugar should be avoided completely because, they say, it is addictive, others say small amounts are okay.

But dieticians and doctors all agree on one point: most people worldwide eat far too much sugar.

Claire Julsing Strydom, spokesman for the Association for Dietetics in SA, said: "Many people need to reduce their sugar intake."

But the Vitality Institute's Professor Derek Yach said: "I remain unconvinced that sugar is bad. It is the dose that matters. Sugars occur naturally in all plants. The problem is excess."

Yach, who worked at the World Health Organisation when it drew up guidelines on how much sugar should be consumed, said it recommended a maximum of 10 teaspoons a day.

"Few countries have reached this level," said Yach.

A look at food packaging shows that sugar is in almost everything, including peanut butter, mayonnaise, breakfast cereals and tomato sauce.

Yach said: "Many people are unaware of the ubiquity of sugar in their diet and consume way more than is healthy."

In Britain, where obesity and the incidence of lifestyle diseases continue to rise, doctors last week announced the formation of an advocacy group, Action on Sugar.

The group aims to pressurise British producers into reducing the amount of sugar in food by 30% so that Brits will eat 100 fewer calories a day.

Harris Steinman, head of Facts, a food allergy and consultancy testing service, said: "South Africa has no legislation to limit how much sugar is added to food."

Steinman said breakfast cereals were loaded with sugar.

Food Sure managing director Amanda Rogaly said: "The trick to figuring out how much sugar you are taking in is to read the label and identify sugar content by one of [sugar's] many names."

The names used for sugars include golden syrup, corn sweeteners, corn syrup, dextrin, honey, invert sugar, maple syrup, evaporated cane juice, malt, molasses, deflavoured fruit juice, sucrose, glucose and fructose.