Article: Chart of the day: Shoppers turning away from high-sugar foods
Maybe consumers changing their eating habits/purchase decisions, like selecting lower sugar products, will force the hand of food manufacturers . In the short to medium term, this may result in manfacturers lowing sugar content of their products to meet the consumer appetite for lower sugar products.
Such has far more power and influence on changing the food industry, than a sugar tax or education program.
A significant sugar tax - applied at the point of manufacture will affect the amount of sugar that food processing companies add to food.
Currently sugar is a cheap ingredient. Adding sugar to increase the weight & bulk of a recipe; as well as make the product âaddictiveâ; has become the accepted formula.
We need incentives to get manufacturers to change the formula/recipe of their products (put less sugar in them) and a sugar tax on the manufacturers is definitely that.
No one is saying it is the only incentive that can be applied to manufacturers.
Action is needed at the consumer end too - which is where this thread began ⊠talking about the âfat is badâ message sponsored by âsugar pushersâ for their own profit.
Education of consumers is never-ending, and the last few years the message âadded sugar is badâ has been starting to get through.
Many fruit juice drinks are not pure - meaning juice from the nominated fruit and only from the nominated fruit. For example the manufacturers add pear juice as a cheap ingredient to âxxxx juiceâ, and of course pear juice has a higher innate sugars than âxxxx juiceâ does.
Many fruit juice drinks have sugar/s added to them.
My reference was to all juices, pure and otherwise, as well as âfruit juice drinksâ that are diluted or blended. Even pure juices have sugars and some are acidic, eg they attack teeth.
I wonât vouch for the veracity of this site other than it has citations in the pulldown and other references reflect similar numbers
This US citrus association site tip toes all over but finally gets to the point
How much sugar is in that serving of orange juice?
An 8 ounce glass of 100% orange juice contains around 21 grams of natural sugar and counts as a cup of fruit.
and from a blog-like site where all claims have citations
Yes fruit juices contain sugar, but I drank plenty of orange and apple juice as a child (and was never overweight), as I suspect did most other children at the time, yet obesity levels were much lower then (60s-70s) than they are now, so Iâm not convinced it is a big factor in the current obesity epidemic.
However, I was very active, and I suspect childrensâ lack of physical activity in recent times may be a more significant factor.
I was not explicit, but giving babies/toddlers fruit juices in their bottles as if it was water or milk will rot their teeth. Lots of parents fill the bottles with juice and leave it with the child for hours at a time.
Once upon a time I was âguilty as chargedâ. The paediatric dental bills were my retribution, as was the lecture received.
It all counts, certainly being active also limits opportunities for bad eating. Is it just one symptom of a broader concern.
Our recollections of the 50âs and 60âs were of a very active outdoor environment as children and teenagers.
Many of us had no TV and only imagination with a long list of now politically questionable past times imitating role models like John Wayne or Vic Morrow or Barbie or �
Soft drinks and even juices were rare treats, and expensive choices as were chips (crisps) or potato straws. Sugar was put into tea, on breakfast or in cakes made at home.
Today is very different on both fronts, in particular where both parents and children are held captive to a modern consumer agenda. Things started to change in the 70âs. Milk bottles got larger, Golden Circle and Berri juices started to leap off the shelves in ever larger tins or cardboard or later plastic. Soft drink exploded into a full isle at the modern marvel of the super market. Chips appeared in large cardboard boxes, party sized for one or more! 
And the miracle of fast food was every where including the KFC bucket, with a secret recipe that kept every last ounce of fat and oil and salt in that yummy coating. 
Somewhere in the Choice Staff library there should be a book or two already written on how this all came to pass? 
We were the same but when I grew up most of us also didnât regularly drink soft drinks (sugar drinks) or other sugar fortified foods and sweets (these were rare treat foods). Maybe the problem is not juices per say, but the added affect of all the other added sugars also consumed in todayâs diets.
Most nutritionists talk about moderation, and maybe in our youth sugar was in moderation while today it can easily be in excess.
A link to my post in regards to Sugary Drinks and the risk of cancer (fruit juices are being linked to increased risk):
An article regarding the CWA developing recipes with less or no sugar.
Maybe the discussion on a sugar tax is too narrow, as a highly/ultra processed foods low in sugar but high in salts, fats or other hollow carbohydrates can be just as unhealthy. Possibly all junk foods should be taxedâŠ
