Kiwis' sugar cravings can range from far too high to surprisingly low when it comes to beverages, according to a new Otago University study.
The research suggests that people will accept drinks with 112% more sugar than recommended by manufacturers, however participants in the study also enjoyed beverages with 62% less.
Otago University researcher Dr Mei Peng joined Breakfast this morning, saying the study was inspired by the prevalence of sugar in diets today.
"That made us think, is there anything that we haven't known about people's acceptance of sugar? We know we like sugar, but how much do we like it?" she said.
From a scientific perspective, she said the idea of sugar being the devil was still up for debate.
"There is inconsistent evidence... some studies suggest sugar really helps with weight loss, and some studies find otherwise. [But] obviously excessive sugar is bad for us, we know that."
Peng said community members, including Otago University students, took part in the research by blind tasting drinks with different concentrations of sugar and recording which ones they liked best.
"We all think we like sugar, but there are 'sugar likers' and 'sugar dislikers' [as we call them], so for sugar likers it seems like the more the better... but we think the most surprising finding is we are [also] okay with drinks with a lot less sugar."
Prior studies have indicated that reducing sugar in drinks by 40% could reduce the number of obese people in the UK by one million and the number of overweight people by 500,000.
Peng said she would support a sugar reduction in Aotearoa's drinks, and that it is worth having a national conversation on a sugar tax.
"I don't know if [a sugar tax] would be effective or accepted... but our study suggested that consumers are able to accept drinks with a lot less sugar. The food industry expects consumers can't accept less sugar, but we now know they can."
SHARE ME