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A 20-40 percent reduction in sugar in packaged food and drinks will prevent 2.5 million heart attacks in the US.
This is according to a study conducted by scientists from Harvard, Tufts, and New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. The study was on the potential effect of a proposed policy to reduce the sugar content by 20 percent in packaged food and by 40 percent in sweetened beverages. The scientists concluded that the policy could help to reduce about 2.5 million heart attacks, strokes, and cardiac arrests, prevent 750,000 diabetes cases, and almost 490,000 cardiovascular deaths.
These reductions would be over the average adult population’s lifetime, and would also save billions of dollars in healthcare costs.
foodnetindia believes that this kind of policy should be enacted in India as well, given the ‘hidden sugar’ in many packaged foods. However, any such policy in India should also prevent brands from using sugar substitutes like honey or jaggery. Contrary to popular belief, jaggery and honey are not safer alternatives to sugar.