SUGAR

Passage 1

Bad news! If you’ve got a sweet tooth - eating too many sweets could make you forgetful. Researchers have found that maintaining low sugar levels in the blood is good for the brain.

The study, published in the journal Neurology, showed people with too much sugar in their blood were more likely to have memory problems. Researchers looked at 141 people with an average age of 63 who did not have diabetes or pre-diabetes. Those with less sugar in their blood were more likely to score well on memory tests.

The researchers found that people with high levels of sugar in their blood were less able to recall a list of 15 words 30 minutes after hearing them.

An increase of about seven mmol/mol of a long-term marker of glucose control called HbA1c went along with remembering two fewer words. Dr Agnes Floel, of Charite University Hospital in Berlin, said: ‘These results suggest even for people within the normal range of blood sugar lowering their blood sugar levels could be a promising strategy for preventing memory problems and cognitive decline as they age. ‘Strategies such as lowering calorie intake and increasing physical activity should be tested.’

Passage 2

The United States and United Kingdom are waging war on

sugar in the interests of public health. They say that people eat too much sugar and this is harmful to people’s well-being. On Thursday, the U.S. printed new dietary guidelines. These strongly recommend people get less than 10 per cent of their daily calories from added sugar. On the same day, Britain’s Prime Minister said he did not rule out the idea of a tax on sugar so people would buy food with less sugar in it. Politicians in the U.K. are discussing how less sugar in food could help reduce Britain’s rising rates of obesity.

The governments both cite a study carried out in Mexico that showed how a tax on carbonated drinks reduced consumption. The tax meant sales of sugary drinks went down by 12 per cent in 2014. Sales of mineral water went up by four per cent in the same year. An alternative to taxing sugared drinks is to reduce the level of sugar in them. Researchers at a London university said that cutting the sugar content in drinks by 40 per cent over five years could prevent one million cases of obesity in the U.K. Researchers say people might not even notice this.