Making Progress on Added Sugar: Overview, Index and Resource Guide

by NYC Food Policy Editor
Prepared by the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center 

The following is a resource guide with information about added sugar in food and beverages, including institutional sugar policies, pouring rights contracts, and added sugar warning labels. This guide accompanies the May 12, 2021 discussion, “Making Progress on Added Sugar.” To watch the discussion, see here.

Sugar Overview

Facts & Data

  • Dietary sugar comes in two forms: naturally-occurring and added. Naturally-occurring sugars, such as lactose from milk products and fructose from fruits, are found naturally in these foods. Added sugars are any types of sugar that are added to food during processing or preparation, including white sugar added to coffee, honey added to granola, and high fructose corn syrup added to fruit juices.
  • In 2015, the World Health Organization recommended that free sugars (sugars added to foods and beverages by manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars present in honey, syrups, and fruit juices) should account for less than 10% of total energy intake.
  • The American Heart Association recommends a daily sugar intake of no more than 6 teaspoons (25 grams, or 100 calories) for women, and 9 teaspoons (36 grams, or 150 calories) for men.
  • According to the USDA, American adults, on average, consume more sugar than the recommended daily intake. In 2017-2018: The average adult woman consumed 15 teaspoons per day, and the average adult man consumed 19 teaspoons per day.
  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, sugar consumption has been scrutinized even more. Sugar consumption has been linked to an increased risk of certain diet-related diseases. Many of these diseases, such as diabetes and obesity, are then linked to increased risk of severe illness from the virus.
  • Food industries that rely on sugar have a history of funding research to attempt to avoid culpability in the American obesity epidemic and potentially improve companies’ public image. 
    • In the 1960s, the Sugar Research Foundation, today known as the Sugar Association, paid scientists to do research on sugar and fat and then selected the research that minimized the link between sugar and heart health to be published. 
    • Two of the largest soda companies, the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo, sponsored research done by 95 different health organizations from 2011 until 2015.

Resource Websites

Publications

Scholarly Journals

Newspapers & Magazines

Reports

Books

Documentaries

Podcasts

Other

Opinion

Online Discussion

Sugar at Institutions

Resource Websites

Research (Scholarly Journals)

Sugar in Schools

Sugar-sweetened beverages in schools

Policy effects on sugar consumption in schools

Sugar in Hospital Food

Sugar in Correctional Facilities

Correctional facility diet effects on health

Sugar in the Military

Other Publications

Books

Reports

Other

In the News

General

Schools

Hospitals

Correctional Facilities

Pouring Rights at Public Universities

What are Pouring Rights?

“Pouring rights” is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary’s Lexico as, “The exclusive rights of a beverage maker or distributor to have its products sold at a particular venue, event, or institution.” Beverage companies will sign contracts with locations and institutions (notably universities) to have exclusive rights to the sale of drinks at that particular place. 

Resource Websites

Research (Scholarly Journals)

Awareness

Economic benefits to pouring rights contracts

Other Publications

Books

Conferences/talks/presentations

Podcasts

In the News

Student Opposition

Added Sugar Warning Labels

What are Added Sugar Warning Labels?

Placed on the front of packaging, added sugar warning labels are graphics that draw attention to the amount of added sugar in a food product. Different types of warning labels have different amounts of information on them and have varying efficacy as deterrents to consumers. Some countries, such as Chile and Mexico, have taken legislative action to require warning labels on packaged food,, but these actions have been strongly opposed by the American food industry. 

In New York City chain restaurants, foods that contain more than the recommended amount of sodium are required to include a small black and white salt shaker icon on the menu. Now, there is also a bill pending to require these restaurants to also include a warning for foods that are high in sugar.

Resource Websites

Research (Scholarly Journals)

Effect of warnings on consumers

Effect on parents

Restaurant menus and nutrition information

Public perception of labels

Warning labels on sugar-sweetened beverages

Label design

Front-of-package nutrition labels, broadly

Negative consequences

In the News

Opposition

NYC salt labeling

Opinion

Other Resources

Reports

Podcasts

Online Discussion

Policy

Similar Policies Outside the USA

Australia

  • In 2011, the Australian federal government rejected a recommendation to enact traffic light front-of-package labelling on packaged foods. The government rejected the recommendation despite overwhelming support from public health advocacy groups and consumers.
  • In 2007, the Department of Education in the state of Western Australia began a traffic light labeling policy to determine the healthiness of various foods. Foods that are “red” are not permitted in school cafeterias. This policy is still successfully going on today. 
  • Since the 2011 rejection, there have been some renewed calls to introduce traffic light labeling legislation on a federal level, but as of 2021 no Australia-wide labeling laws have been passed. 

Resource Websites

In the News

Research

Canada

  •  In 2018, Health Canada proposed front-of-package warning labels for packaged foods, which would specifically target foods high in sugar, sodium, and saturated fats.
  • As of 2021, a redesigned Canadian food label has not happened.

Resource Websites

In the News

Research

Chile

  • Starting in the late 2000s, Chilean doctors and public health experts began to talk more openly about the rising rate of obesity in the country, spurring the country’s lawmakers to begin what the New York Times calls a “war on obesity.”
  • Chile’s warning label legislation also came with new rules about advertising unhealthy products to children and selling them at schools. The law passed in 2012, but was not put into effect until 2016.
  • The labels black octagonal stop signs, which say:
    • “Excess of Sugar”
    • “Excess of Saturated Fat”
    • “Excess of Sodium”
    • “Excess of Calories”
  • Chile’s legislation was some of the most daring of its kind in the world, and has led to movements in other countries to require similar labeling.

Resource Websites

In the News

Research

Ecuador

  • The Ecuador Ministry of Health implemented the nutritional traffic light label in 2014, requiring all packaged foods to have a front-of-package label alerting customers to levels of sugar, salt, and fat.

In the News

Research

France

  • In 2017, the French government recommended use of the Nutri-Score front-of-package labeling system for prepackaged food sold in grocery stores. 
  • Similar to the traffic-light labeling system found in the United Kingdom, the Nutri-Score label uses colors ranging from green to red to signify the healthiness of a product. These colors correspond to a rating, A → E (A being the best, E being the worst)
    • The label is also called the 5-Colour Nutrition Label or 5-CNL.
  • The governments of Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Spain have since followed France’s lead and recommended use of the label.
    • Italy opposes the use of Nutri-Score labeling., 

Resource Websites

In the News

Research

Mexico

  • In late January 2020, Mexico passed an amendment to the General Labeling Specifications for Prepackaged Foods and Non-Alcoholic Beverages–Commercial and Health Information to add front-of-package warning labels to high-sugar foods.
  • This legislation was directly inspired by a similar law in Chile.
  • The labels are a black octagonal stop sign, with one or more of the following statements:
    • “Excess Calories”
    • “Excess Sugars”
    • “Excess Saturated Fats”
    • “Contains Caffeine – Avoid in Children”
    • “Contains Sweeteners – Avoid in Children.”
  • The labeling requirements took effect in late 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and led to pushback from the United States, Canada, Switzerland and the European Union.

Resource Websites

In the News

Research

United Kingdom

  • In 2013, The UK began voluntary use of traffic-light nutrition labeling on packaged food sold in grocery stores. The labels are colored red (high), orange (medium), or green (low), like a traffic light.
  • The labels include information about total fat, saturated fat, salt, and sugar, including total amount per serving and percentage of the recommended daily intake.
  • The labels are not currently mandatory, so about one third of products on shelves do not have this front-of-package labeling.

Resource Websites

In the News

Research

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