WATCH | Academics explain the sour truth about your sweet Christmas

Schweet! It’s Christmas! But the season of goodwill and sugary treats could be killing you‚ say UK academics.

In a new video‚ University of Warwick boffins explain how excessive sugar consumption can affect our health — and how the sugar trade has caused inequality and bloodshed.

On average‚ 10% of Britons’ daily calories come from sugar‚ which is equivalent to eating 60g a day; but World Health Organisation guidelines say adults should eat no more than of 30g of sugar a day.

In South Africa‚ a health promotion levy on cool drinks — better known as the sugar tax — will take effect on April 1 and is expected to bring in more than R1-billion a year.

It has been set at 2.1c a gram of sugar content that exceeds 4g per 100ml‚ which means the first 4g per 100ml will be free of the levy.

The type of sugars most adults and children in the UK eat too much of are “free sugars”. These are any sugars added to food or drinks and include sugars in biscuits‚ chocolate‚ flavoured yoghurts‚ breakfast cereals and fizzy drinks.

Sugar consumption can rocket at Christmas. A slice of Christmas cake will take you well over your recommended daily sugar allowance of 30g. A glass of mulled wine contains just under half of your total recommended sugar intake‚ Christmas pudding can have up to 45g of sugar per portion and a mince pie can contain more than 22g of sugar.

Professor Franco Cappuccio‚ of Warwick Medical School‚ said: “As well as having a detrimental effect on your waistline‚ sugar consumption above recommended levels can affect your health in other ways.

“Eating too much sugar and the excessive calories and increase in weight heightens your risk of health problems such as heart disease‚ some cancers and type 2 diabetes.”

Dr Ben Richardson‚ from the department of politics and international studies‚ said confectionery marketing often targeted children. “This is particularly noticeable around Christmas when a whole new generation of children will be socialised into associating certain foods and drinks with the festivities‚” he said.

Historian Professor Rebecca Earle said the manufacture of sugar in colonial times had a bitter history. “Most of the sugar manufactured in Britain was done using slavery. Working on sugar plantations was lethal and every stage of the production process was dangerous. As they said at the time‚ ‘sugar was made with blood’‚” she said.

“Sugar still takes the lives of those who grow it‚ so whether we torment ourselves over our excessive sugar intake or enjoy festive treats we can also remember this longer more sombre history of sugar’s bitter side.”