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Sugar - a sweet crystalline substance obtained from various plants, especially sugar cane and sugar beet, consisting essentially of sucrose, and used as a sweetener in food and drink.

Are you aware of the amount of sugar you consume on a daily basis? Whether this be adding sugar in your tea, a pastry for breakfast, even a sports drink after a gym class?

Medical experts are calling sugar the new tobacco and has now been linked not only to obesity, but cancer, heart disease, chronic fatigue, tooth decay and type two diabeties. It has been said that diabeties is the epedemic of the 21st Century; costing Australia an estimated $14.6billion per year with 280 Australians developing diabetes every day.

Graham MacGregor, Professor of Cardiovascular medicine at The University of London stated in The Guardian UK:

“People haven’t twigged that the biggest cause of death is what we are eating. It’s no surprise we’re so obese; the biggest surprise is why aren’t we all obese. We’re all eating too much sugar- people grossly underestimate how much they consume. We know because in surveys, if you ask people how much fizzy drink they consume, you get a figure two-and-a-half times less than how much is being sold.”

Many of us are creatures of habit and changing our habits can be reasonably difficult.

Some nutritionists say no more than 5% of the food we consume daily should originate from sugar; this equates to approximately 7 teaspoons of sugar per day. It is said, there are up to 10 teaspoons of sugar in a single can of Coca-Cola.

According to the 2007 Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey, young Australians (aged 2-16) are the leading generation in society to consume beverages with a higher sugar content everyday.

More recently, as a response to Australia having one of the highest obesity rates in the world, the Australian Government have developed the Health Star rating system. This is a simple way to educate customers and encourage us to make healthier choices and contribute to a balanced diet containing a little less sugar.