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• May 2013 - CSI is chairing a symposium at the Canadian Nutrition Society Annual Meeting in Quebec City, QC, May 31-June 2, 2013

  CSI is chairing a symposium at the Canadian Nutrition Society Annual Meeting in Quebec City, QC, May 31-June 2, 2013

  The Canadian Sugar Institute’s Manager of Nutrition and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Tristin Brisbois, will be chairing a symposium “Nutrition Misconceptions - The role of the media and the researchers: Sugar - a case study” on Friday May 31, 2013 at the Canadian Nutrition Society Annual Meeting in Quebec City, QC. This symposium will review available Canadian data on sugars consumption and explore the scientific findings regarding sugars' effect on body weight and other health outcomes. Various issues in sugar-related research will be addressed and compared to media headlines to help critically evaluate nutrition-related media articles.

  Dr. Brisbois and Dr. John Sievenpiper have been confirmed as speakers. Dr. Brisbois will present sugars consumption data in Canada and introduce some media headlines that pertain to common misconceptions about sugar in her presentation entitled “Common misconceptions about sugars – consumption and dietary goals. Dr. John Sievenpiper's presentation entitled “Maintaining perspective in research and the media: The not so toxic truth about sugar” will draw from his key findings on sugars' effect on body weight and other health outcomes and address the limitations of various sugar-related research.

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  Common misconceptions about sugars – consumption and dietary goals
  Dr. Tristin Brisbois, PhD

  Sugars are an integral part of our diets and food supply; they occur naturally in fruits, vegetables, and milk products and are added to foods to contribute various sensory, functional and food safety properties. The media suggests that we are consuming too much sugar; however, rarely are accurate statistics cited, creating several misconceptions regarding actual consumption patterns. Few published studies estimating sugars consumption exist, especially among the Canadian population. The lack of studies may be in part due to the complications associated with estimating added sugars consumption. Such difficulties include estimating waste adjustment factors to determine apparent consumption from food availability data; missing availability data for some sources of added sugars (notably corn sweeteners) and the lack of a comprehensive database of added sugars content in foods. Since there is limited published Canadian data on added sugars intake, US statistics are often cited, which overestimate Canadian consumption. Finally, the global misuse of sugars terminology and the misinterpretation of data also make it difficult to determine actual added sugars consumption levels. For instance, scientific reports and media often use the term “sugar” to describe total sugars, which can lead to overestimates of added sugars consumption. All of these reasons may lead to the common belief that sugars consumption has increased over the last few decades. However, analysis of Statistics Canada availability data show added sugars intakes to be stable or modestly declining as a percent of total energy over the past 3 decades; this trend is shared by other developed countries such as Australia, the UK, and the US. Both Statistics Canada data and Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) nutrition survey data estimate added sugars to contribute approximately 11-13% of total daily calories among Canadians. Unlike other nutrients, there is no quantitative recommendation for total or added sugars intake in Canada. Canadian-US dietary reference intakes suggest a maximum of 25% of total energy from added sugars. CCHS data show Canadians are consuming sugars from a variety of foods within the four food groups, including milk, fruits and vegetables and grains. Taken together these data suggest that added sugars consumption in Canada is not increasing and is within dietary recommendations.

  Learning objectives:

  1. To understand sugars terminology and the functional role of sugars in foods and in the diet.
  2. To learn the main sources of sugars in Canadians’ diets and estimates of added sugars intakes among Canadians and how these compare to dietary recommendations.
  3. To understand the complications involved in estimating added sugars intakes and how this affects what is presented in both scientific and popular articles.

  References:

  1. Barclay AW, Brand-Miller J. The Australian Paradox: A Substantial Decline in Sugars Intake over the Same Timeframe that Overweight and Obesity Have Increased. Nutrients 2011;3:491-504.
  2. Hall KD, Guo J, Dore M, Chow CC. The progressive increase of food waste in America and its environmental impact. PLoS One 2009;4:e7940.
  3. Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2005.
  4. Langlois K, Garriguet D. Sugar consumption among Canadians of all ages. Health Rep 2011;22.
  5. Ruxton CH, Gardner EJ, McNulty HM. Is sugar consumption detrimental to health? A review of the evidence 1995-2006. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2010;50:1-19.
  6. Welsh JA, Sharma AJ, Grellinger L, Vos MB. Consumption of added sugars is decreasing in the United States. Am J Clin Nutr 2011.

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  Maintaining perspective in research and the media: The not so toxic truth about sugar
  Dr. John L Sievenpiper MD, PhD

  Fructose has become a focus of intense concern regarding its role in the epidemics of obesity and cardiometabolic disease. Strong parallels are being drawn between fructose-containing sugars and tobacco with the suggestion that fructose-containing sugars are to obesity and cardiometabolic disease as tobacco smoke is to lung cancer and cardiovascular disease. There have been dozens of editorials, commentaries, and letters in the scientific literature and numerous pieces in the lay media calling for efforts to regulate its intake like tobacco. Uncontrolled ecological studies which have linked increasing fructose intake with increasing obesity rates since the 1970s along with animal models and human trials of fructose overfeeding at levels of exposure far beyond actual population levels of intake have been used to underpin this debate. Despite the limitations in extrapolating from these data, international diabetes and heart associations in their most recent recommendations have taken a risk reduction approach to fructose-containing sugars and in particular fructose, setting upper thresholds for intake. To address the uncertainty in the evidence, we and others have conducted a series of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of controlled feeding trials to assess the effect of fructose (the presumed culprit) on 6 areas of cardiometabolic control: lipids, body weight, glycemia, blood pressure, uric acid, and NAFLD. Contrary to the concerns expressed, our synthesis shows that there is a reasonable body of consistent evidence from controlled feeding trials that fructose in isocaloric exchange for other sources of carbohydrate at low-to-moderate doses near the average population intake (10% total energy) does not harm serum lipids, body weight, blood pressure, uric acid, or markers of NAFLD and may even benefit glycemia and blood pressure. There is, however, an emerging body of consistent evidence that fructose providing excess energy (+18-97% excess energy) at extreme doses (>100-g/day) well above the 95-percentile for intake may promote dyslipidemia, weight gain, raised uric acid levels, and NAFLD, an effect which may be more attributable to excess energy than fructose. The shorter duration, poor quality and unexplained inter-study heterogeneity among the available trials indicate the need for larger, longer-term, “real world” feeding trials to guide our understanding of fructose’s true metabolic consequences.

  Learning Objectives

  1. To appreciate differences in fructose metabolism between animals and humans.
  2. To understand the limitations of the ecological analyses linking fructose to cardiometabolic risk and to assess the evidence from prospective cohort studies linking fructose-containing sugars with cardiometabolic disease.
  3. To discuss the effect of fructose on cardiometabolic risk factors in “isocaloric” versus “hypercaloric” feeding trials.

  References

  1. Cozma AI, Sievenpiper JL, de Souza RJ et al. Effect of Fructose on Glycemic Control in Diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled feeding trials. Diabetes Care 2012;35:1611-20.
  2. Ha V, Sievenpiper JL, de Souza RJ et al. Effect of Fructose on Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Controlled Feeding Trials. Hypertension 2012.
  3. Sievenpiper JL, Chiavaroli L, de Souza RJ et al. 'Catalytic' doses of fructose may benefit glycaemic control without harming cardiometabolic risk factors: a small meta-analysis of randomised controlled feeding trials. Br J Nutr 2012;1-6.
  4. Sievenpiper JL, de Souza RJ, Mirrahimi A et al. Effect of Fructose on Body Weight in Controlled Feeding Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med 2012;156:291-304.
  5. Wang DD, Sievenpiper JL, de Souza RJ et al. The Effects of Fructose Intake on Serum Uric Acid Vary among Controlled Dietary Trials. J Nutr 2012.

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• May 2013 - CSI is presenting at the Student & Trainee Symposium as part of the Canadian Nutrition Society Annual Meeting in Quebec City, QC, June 1, 2013

  CSI is presenting at the Student & Trainee Symposium as part of the Canadian Nutrition Society Annual Meeting in Quebec City, QC, June 1, 2013

  The Canadian Sugar Institute's Manager of Nutrition and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Tristin Brisbois, will be presenting at the 2013 professional development Student & Trainee Symposium “Communicating your professional brand” offered as part of the Canadian Nutrition Society Annual Meeting program. The symposium will be held at the Loews Hôtel Le Concorde in Québec City on Saturday June 1, from 5:00-6:00pm.

  Through her presentation, “Applying your knowledge and skills to careers outside academia”, she will describe her current position at CSI, skills she has identified as being important in the Canadian food and nutrition industry, and provide advice for how graduate students in nutrition programs, dietetic interns, post-doctoral fellows, and young professionals can identify and present the skills and experience they have gained throughout their schooling to effectively market themselves to positions outside of academia.

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• May 2013 - Sugar and metabolic health – a systematic review of human intervention studies

  The effects of sucrose on metabolic health: a systematic review of human intervention studies in healthy adults.

  Sigrid Gibson*, Pippa Gunn*, Anna Wittekind^, & Richard Cottrell^.
  *Sig-Nurture Ltd., Surrey, UK
  ^World Sugar Research Organisation, London, UK

  Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 2013; 53:591-614.

  Summary:
  We systematically reviewed interventions substituting sucrose for other macronutrients in apparently healthy adults to assess impact on cardiometabolic risk indicators. Multiple databases were searched to January 2012 and abstracts assessed by 2 reviewers. Twenty-five studies (29 papers) met inclusion criteria but varied in quality and duration. Weaknesses included small subject numbers, unclear reporting of allocation, unusual dietary regimes, differences in energy intake, fat composition or fibre between conditions, unhealthy subjects, heterogeneity of results, and selective reporting. Insufficient data were available to draw reliable conclusions except with regard to the substitution of sucrose for starch, where effects on plasma lipids were inconsistent, mostly explicable by other factors, or nonsignificant. Based on fewer studies, there was little evidence for significant effects on plasma glucose or insulin. Sucrose substitution for starch up to 25% energy does not appear to have adverse effects on cardiometabolic risk indicators in apparently healthy adults. Furthermore, there is no consistent evidence that restricting sucrose in an isoenergetic diet would affect risk indicators, except perhaps in people with certain pre-existing metabolic abnormalities. Larger, high-quality studies, lasting several months and studying a wider range of outcomes, are needed in order to provide evidence on which to base public health initiatives.

  Link to full text

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• March 2013 - Resources to Help Develop and Improve Food Skills

  Resources to Help Develop and Improve Food Skills

  Food skills are important to make healthy food choices and prepare nutritious meals. The definition of “food skills” used by Health Canada states "food skills are a complex, inter-related, person-centred, set of skills that are necessary to provide and prepare safe, nutritious, and culturally acceptable meals for all members of one's household" (1). This definition of food skills includes:

  • Knowledge about food, nutrition, label reading, food safety (e.g. storage, preservation), functional properties of ingredients, and ingredient substitution;
  • Planning and organizing meals, budgeting, teaching food skills to children;
  • Conceptualizing food, creativity, using up leftovers, adjusting recipes, reducing waste;
  • Mechanical techniques such as chopping, mixing, using equipment, cooking, following recipes; and
  • Food perception, using senses such as texture and taste, knowing when foods are fully cooked.

  The Canadian Sugar Institute offers a variety of resources that can help improve food skills related to cooking and baking, reading Nutrition Facts tables, and understanding the function ingredients play in foods. A brief description of these resources and which food skills they each involve are listed below. These resources are available in both English and French and can be ordered free of charge or can be downloaded from our website.

  "A Taste of Sugar" Recipe Collection – Provides the tools needed to cook and bake a variety of meals and snacks from scratch, such as breakfasts, appetizers, vegetable dishes, salads, soups, and entrees. The recipes also offer tips on controlling portions and increasing daily intake of fruits, vegetables and fibre. Included are recommended links to other resources, including Health Canada’s Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide, Canadian Produce Marketing Association’s Mix It Up!, and Dietitians of Canada’s EATracker.

  • Food Skills: food knowledge (nutrition, functional properties of ingredients, ingredient substitution), planning and organizing meals, conceptualizing food (creativity), mechanical techniques

  Sugars, Carbohydrates and the New Food Label – Helps consumers read and understand the Nutrition Facts table and front-of-pack claims.

  • Food Skills: food knowledge (label reading)

  Breakfast Brain Booster – Increases consumer knowledge of the importance of eating breakfast, and provides quick and easy breakfast ideas.

  • Food Skills: planning and organizing meals, conceptualizing food (creativity)

  Calories and Body Weight – Describes the concepts of calories and exercise, and gives tips on managing energy intake and output for weight maintenance or weight loss.

  • Food Skills: food knowledge (nutrition, label reading), planning and organizing meals

  Fuel For Your Activity – Supports the importance of carbohydrates and proper nutrition for physical activity, and provides tips for appropriate meals and snacks.

  • Food Skills: food knowledge, planning and organizing meals

  Sugar: From Plant to Food – Highlights the process of sugar purification, the role of sugar in the diet, and describes the different types of sugars found in foods.

  • Food Skills: food knowledge (functional properties of ingredients, ingredient substitution)

  Understanding the Glycemic Index – Improves understanding of the relationship between carbohydrates in foods and blood glucose levels for meal planning.

  • Food Skills: food knowledge, planning and organizing meals

  Nature’s Sweet Mystery – Teaches a variety of food skills through an integrated teaching resource for children in grades 4-6. Students learn through a series of experiments and activities, which include making bread, and exploring food preservation techniques, food perception, and energy balance.

  • Food Skills: food knowledge (label reading, food storage, food preservation), mechanical techniques, food perception (taste)

  References:

  1. Vanderkooy, P. Food Skills of Waterloo Region Adults. Region of Waterloo Public Health 2010. Available from http://chd.region.waterloo.on.ca/en/researchResourcesPublications/resources/FoodSkills.pdf

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• January 2013 - Sugar is NOT toxic: Scientific perspectives on an unfounded hypothesis

  Sugar is NOT toxic: Scientific perspectives on an unfounded hypothesis

  Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California, has garnered significant media and public attention by promoting his controversial view that sugar (or more specifically fructose) is “toxic” and responsible for obesity and other serious chronic diseases. He is best known for his lecture posted to YouTube in May 2009 (1) and subsequently his “Comment” published in the journal Nature, "The toxic truth about sugar" (2). He claims that fructose intake from sugars is excessive, and that like alcohol, it has toxic effects on the liver and the potential for abuse. These radical views as well as those in his new book, “Fat Chance: beating the odds against sugar, processed food, obesity and disease”, are not supported by the wealth of scientific evidence with regards to sugar consumption and health. These opinions have not been subject to the peer review process normally expected of meaningful contributions to the scientific literature. Instead he has chosen to base his dramatic assertions on misinformation and a misinterpretation of data, often used out of context (1-3).

  Below is a brief summary of the peer-reviewed scientific evidence in relation to some of these controversial claims:

  Sugars consumption in the Western World has remained stable, or even declined. Published data from national dietary surveys show that in the US (where Lustig is based), intakes of sugars have declined 23% between 1999 and 2008 (4). This declining trend has also been documented in the UK and Australia where intakes have fallen over the last 25 years (5-7). Lustig fails to clarify that the figures he quotes are values for sugar supply on the global market, and do not correspond to people's actual intakes (8).These values greatly overestimate actual sugar consumption as they do not account for waste at the retail, institutional and household levels. Global increases in sugar availability over the last 50 years reflect global population growth and development. To use this data as Lustig has, to state that consumption has tripled in the last 50 years is factually incorrect and misleading. In fact, at the individual level, the absolute and relative (%energy) availability of refined sugar has remained relatively stable during a period where total food energy available for consumption has steadily increased (8,9). In Canada, consumption of refined sugar has declined over the past 4 decades (10) and consumption of total added sugars is estimated to be stable or modestly declining as a percentage of total Calories (11).

  Sugar is not associated with adverse health effects at the levels consumed by the general population. The totality of the scientific evidence concludes that sugar does not have a negative influence on behaviour, cancer, risk of obesity or heart disease (12-16). Even with respect to dental caries, the evidence concludes that it is the frequency of consumption of all fermentable carbohydrates that is the key issue as opposed to the absolute amount of sugars eaten. A number of major Expert Committees, such as the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, European Food Safety Authority, and the US Institute of Medicine have considered all of the issues addressed by Lustig and his colleagues on a number of occasions, and have all concluded that there is no evidence of harm attributed to current sugar consumption levels (12-16).

  Sugar consumption is not the cause of rising obesity rates. Current scientific reviews do not support the opinion that sugars are more likely to contribute to weight gain than any other source of Calories (17). The Canada - US DRI report (14), the basis for Canada’s dietary guidance, found “no clear and consistent association between increased intake of added sugars and body mass index (BMI)”. In fact, higher intakes of sugars are associated with lower body weights (17). Trends in sugar consumption plotted against obesity rates in Canada support this inverse correlation (10,18,19). Analysis of Canadian Community Health Survey data found that total energy intake significantly increased the odds of obesity for men and women, but the composition of their diets, meaning the relative percentages of carbohydrates, protein and fats was not a factor (20). These observations are consistent with the critical analysis of numerous high quality studies, which also do not support a link between sugars intake and the development of obesity (17). Obesity is a complex issue, which involves a combination of factors including but not limited to overconsumption of total Calories and physical inactivity.

  Sugar and foods containing sugar are not addictive. A recent review of the literature on food addiction did not find convincing evidence to characterize foods as “addictive” because foods do not exhibit the criteria of substance abuse, such as tolerance, withdrawal, and intoxication (21). Although the sweet taste of sugar is pleasurable, studies do not support a specific role for sugar in increasing food cravings and sugar does not cause a physical dependence characteristic of addictive substances (22,23). The lack of any credible scientific support for the claim that sugar is addictive is detailed in the findings of a comprehensive review on sugar addiction, which concluded that “there is no support from the human literature for the hypothesis that sucrose may be physically addictive” and “on no occasion was the behaviour predicted by an animal model of sucrose addiction supported by human studies” (22).

  The focus on the fructose component of sugars having toxic effects is not supported by the vast majority of credible scientific evidence. Findings from a limited number of animal studies and human studies involving abnormally high consumption of fructose do not reflect the role of fructose in the normal diet or its normal metabolism. It is only when excess energy is given as fructose at extreme levels of intake that increases in body weight and other abnormal health effects can be seen (24). Fructose does not cause biologically relevant changes as consumed in the general population, even at the highest levels of intake approaching the 95 percentile of intakes (25). Excessive consumption of any energy source is associated with excess body weight and metabolic changes, and fructose is no exception.

  Critiques from other Health Professionals and Associations

  A number of health professionals, Associations and academics all over the world have responded to the misleading claims stemming from the commentary "The toxic truth about sugar". Included among these are critiques from The British Nutrition Foundation, The Dietitians Association of Australia and The Australian Diabetes Council (see excerpts below). Several follow-up responses challenging the commentary were also published in the journal Nature, including a Canadian response from John L. Sievenpiper, Russell J. de Souza and David J.A. Jenkins (St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario)(26).

  British Nutrition Foundation: "Sugar is a source of energy in our diet and it is certainly not 'toxic' in the amounts on average consumed in the UK and other European countries... Overall, the commentary by Lustig and colleagues, published in Nature, does not reflect the current state of evidence around sugar and its association with chronic disease, as shown in some recent major systematic reviews." (27)

  Dietitians Association of Australia: "The Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) believes it is simplistic and unhelpful to blame sugar alone for rising rates of obesity and other related health problems across the world. Labelling sugar as 'toxic' and 'addictive' and placing it in the same boat as alcohol is incorrect and misleading." (28)

  Australian Diabetes Council: "This commentary is a provocative piece intended to encourage debate...'Sugar' is not the issue, it is far more complicated than that. The average Australian can do a lot to improve their diet, but casting sugar as the ultimate villain and calling for regulation is misleading, unfounded and unnecessary." (29)

  The term ‘sugars’ includes all naturally occurring and added sugars, such as sucrose, glucose, fructose and lactose. All sugars contribute 4 Calories per gram, the same as all carbohydrates. Sucrose, glucose and fructose all occur naturally in fruits and vegetables and are added to foods in various forms. The term, sugar, most commonly refers to sucrose, which contains equal parts of glucose and fructose joined together. Sucrose is most abundant in sugar cane and sugar beet but is also the main sugar in maple syrup. High fructose corn syrup is made from corn starch and contains a mixture of the individual sugars glucose and fructose, usually 42% glucose, 55% fructose and 3% other sugars. Other sources of fructose in the diet include honey and agave nectar.

  References below:

  1. Lustig, R. H. Sugar: The Bitter Truth. UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public 7/2009, Health and Medicine, Show ID: 16717. 2009.
  2. Lustig RH, Schmidt LA, Brindis CD. Public health: The toxic truth about sugar. Nature 2012;482:27-9.
  3. Lustig RH. Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease. USA: Hudson Street Press, 2012.
  4. Welsh JA, Sharma AJ, Grellinger L, Vos MB. Consumption of added sugars is decreasing in the United States. Am J Clin Nutr 2011.
  5. Gregory J, Foster K, Tyler H, Wiseman M. The Dietary and Nutritional Survey of British Adults (1986-87). Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London 1990.
  6. Department of Health. National Diet and Nutrition Survey: Headline results from Years 1,2 and 3 (combined) of the rolling programme 2008 - 2011. UK 2012.
  7. Barclay AW, Brand-Miller J. The Australian Paradox: A Substantial Decline in Sugars Intake over the Same Timeframe that Overweight and Obesity Have Increased. Nutrients 2011;3:491-504.
  8. FAOSTAT. Food and Agriculture Organization. http://faostat.fao.org 2012.
  9. United Nations Population Fund. State of World Population 2011. UNFPA, New York 2011.
  10. Statistics Canada. Food Statistics. 2012.
  11. Canadian Sugar Institute. Estimated Intakes of Added Sugars in Canada and Relationship to Trends in Body Weight. Carbohydrate News 2011.
  12. European Food Safety Authority. Scientific Opinion on dietary reference values for carbohydrates and dietary fibre. The EFSA Journal 2010;8:1462
  13. World Health Organization and Food and Agriculture Organization. Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases. Report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation. WHO Technical Report Series 916. WHO Geneva, Switzerland 2003.
  14. Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. Washington, D.C.: The National Academies Press, 2005.
  15. Food and Agriculture Organization. Report of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation. Carbohydrates in Human Nutrition. FAO Food and Nutrition Paper No 66, 1998.
  16. Department of Health. Dietary Sugars and Human Disease. Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy. Report on Health and Social Subjects. Her Majesty's Stationery Office. 37. 1989. London.
  17. Ruxton CH, Gardner EJ, McNulty HM. Is sugar consumption detrimental to health? A review of the evidence 1995-2006. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2010;50:1-19.
  18. Health Canada. Canadian Community Health Survey, Cycle 2.2, Nutrition. 2004.
  19. Statistics Canada. National Population Health Survey. 1994-1999.
  20. Langlois K, Garriguet D, Findlay L. Diet composition and obesity among Canadian adults. Health Rep 2009;20:11-20.
  21. Ziauddeen H, Fletcher PC. Is food addiction a valid and useful concept? Obes Rev 2012.
  22. Benton D. The plausibility of sugar addiction and its role in obesity and eating disorders. Clin Nutr 2010;29:288-303.
  23. World Health Organization. Neuroscience of psychoactive substance use and dependence. WHO Geneva, Switzerland 2004.
  24. Sievenpiper JL, de Souza RJ, Mirrahimi A et al. Effect of Fructose on Body Weight in Controlled Feeding Trials: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med 2012;156:291-304.
  25. Dolan LC, Potter SM, Burdock GA. Evidence-based review on the effect of normal dietary consumption of fructose on development of hyperlipidemia and obesity in healthy, normal weight individuals. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2010;50:53-84.
  26. Sievenpiper JL, de Souza RJ, Jenkins DJ. Sugar: fruit fructose is still healthy. Nature 2012;482:470.
  27. See full review at: www.nutrition.org.uk
  28. See full review at: www.daa.asn.au
  29. See full review at: www.australiandiabetescouncil.com

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• January 2013 - New Resources: Breakfast Consumption, Brain Function, and School Performance

  New Resources: Breakfast Consumption, Brain Function, and School Performance

  The Canadian Sugar Institute Nutrition Information Service is pleased to provide you with the newest editions of our health professional and consumer resources.

  • Carbohydrate News – Carbohydrates and the Cognitive Performance of Children   (PDF format)
  • Clips on Sugars – Breakfast Brain Booster   (PDF format)

  This edition of Carbohydrate News, entitled Carbohydrates and the Cognitive Performance of Children, features an article written by Dr. David Benton of Swansea University, United Kingdom. In this article, Dr. Benton outlines the importance of carbohydrate for brain functioning, particularly in children where brain glucose requirements are at their peak. Since blood glucose levels are low in the morning, breakfast becomes a critical meal for optimal school performance. This article reviews the effects of breakfast and its composition, such as the proportion of carbohydrate, protein, fat, and fibre, on children’s cognition and school performance.

  This issue of Clips on Sugars, Breakfast Brain Booster, provides consumer-friendly information on the importance of daily breakfast consumption by children and adolescents, both for overall health and school performance. It also includes a variety of breakfast ideas that can be shared with clients.

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• October 2012 - Concerned Children's Advertisers and Canadian Sugar Institute create Science of Food classroom video

  Concerned Children's Advertisers and Canadian Sugar Institute create Science of Food classroom video

  The Canadian Sugar Institute (CSI) has worked with Concerned Children's Advertisers (CCA), the Digital Video Group and a teacher consultant to create an interactive video for the integrated teaching resource Nature's Sweet Mystery. This 5 minute video helps teachers involve their students in the Nature's Sweet Mystery lesson plans on photosynthesis, the role of carbohydrates and glucose in the body, and the digestive system. The video was developed in response to the results of a CCA survey, which revealed teachers' desire for videos that can be used in the classroom. The video has been uploaded to YouTube and is also housed on our website under the Educators and Students section.

  
  If you are having problems viewing the video, please try this link.

  The Nature's Sweet Mystery resource includes experiments and activities to help students learn about food science, food production, biology, nutrition and physical activity within a series of four Missions. The material was written by nutrition professionals, including Registered Dietitians, with the support of educational consultants and has been classroom tested by teachers across Canada.

  A free print copy can be ordered by Canadian educators and health professionals in both English and French.

  Alternatively, the resource can be downloaded here.

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• October 2012 - CSI is exhibiting and presenting at the Canadian Diabetes Association Conference in Vancouver, BC, October 10-13, 2012

  CSI is exhibiting and presenting at the Canadian Diabetes Association Conference in Vancouver, BC, October 10-13, 2012

  The Canadian Sugar Institute (CSI) will be exhibiting at the Canadian Diabetes Association / Canadian Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism Professional Conference in Vancouver, BC from October 10-13, 2012.

  In addition, CSI has been selected to participate in the conference's research poster presentation. The Institute's Manager of Nutrition and Scientific Affairs, Dr. Tristin Brisbois, will be presenting CSI research on added sugars consumption trends in Canada. The abstract below will also be published in an upcoming issue of the Canadian Journal of Diabetes.

  Estimated intakes of added sugars in Canada and relationship to trends in body weight
  Tristin D. Brisbois, PhD and Sandra L. Marsden, MHSc, RD
  Nutrition Information Service, Canadian Sugar Institute, Toronto, ON M5J 2R8

  Consumption of added sugars in Canada is often reported to be higher than data suggest. The purpose of this study was to estimate and trend added sugars consumption using both Statistics Canada availability data and Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) nutrition survey data. Sugar is defined as sucrose (from sugar cane or sugar beets); Sugars are all monosaccharides and disaccharides (naturally occurring or added); and Added sugars are all sugars added to foods (i.e., sugar, honey, maple syrup, and corn sweeteners). Consumption of added sugars was estimated by adjusting total availability of added sugars for retail, institutional and household losses. CCHS total sugars data were used to estimate added sugars consumption based on studies that have reported added sugars to account for approximately half of total sugars intake. The contribution of added sugars to total energy intake was also calculated. Results showed close agreement between the two methods; added sugars intakes were estimated to average 53 grams/day and to contribute 10 - 13% of total energy. Added sugars intakes were also shown to be stable or modestly declining as a percent of total energy over the past 3 decades. Trends in sugars consumption plotted against obesity rates show an inverse correlation; this is consistent with current scientific literature, which does not support an association between body weight and sugars consumption. Added sugars consumption in Canada is not increasing. Both availability data and nutrition survey data estimate added sugars to contribute approximately 10-13% of total daily Calories among Canadians.

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• August 2012 - Four-part series reviewing the science of sugars: Role in foods, diet and health

  IFIC Foundation Series on Science of Sugars Published in Nutrition Today

  Reprinted from the International Food Information Council Foundation, 2012.

  A four-part examination of the science of sugars, produced by the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation, will be published in editions of the peer-reviewed journal Nutrition Today. Part one of the series is currently available on the journal’s website

  Authors of the four-part series include: Marilyn D. Schorin, PhD, RD, FADA, a nutrition and food science expert; Kris Sollid, RD, manager for nutrients at IFIC and the IFIC Foundation; Marianne Smith-Edge, MS, RD, LD, FADA, senior vice-president of nutrition and food safety at IFIC and the IFIC Foundation; and Ann Bouchoux, MSW, senior director of nutrients communication at IFIC and the IFIC Foundation. The series explores types of sugars and their functions in foods; the role of sugars in a healthful diet; the relationship between sugars and both obesity and prevalent chronic diseases; and the association between sugars and dental health, cognitive function and physical activity.

  “There is a good deal of confusion and debate today regarding sugar and its impact on diet and health,” said Marianne Smith-Edge. “This series, an extensive review of existing literature, seeks to gather together and present the consensus science associated with all aspects of this issue. This project is another example of the IFIC Foundation bringing balance and context to the dialogue and communicating the depth and breadth of science-based information in a way that adds clarity and public understanding. ”

  As carbohydrates, sugars play important roles in food. They are a source of calories and, in addition to sweetening, perform many essential technical functions both in processed foods and foods prepared in the home. Sugar was placed on the Food and Drug Administration's list of foods that are “Generally Recognized as Safe” in 1958 and scientific investigators continue to examine the relationships between sugars and health — a topic that still spurs much discussion in both scientific and public policy settings. For these reasons, the IFIC Foundation gathered and reviewed a vast amount of research on sugar to help separate scientific facts from perception.The four-part series to be published in Nutrition Today is the culmination of that effort.

  Despite extensive research, many controversies remain regarding the role and impact of sugars in nutrition and health and the series highlights the need for science-based dietary guidance and additional research in key areas. It notes that the science concerning sugar will continue to evolve and, hopefully, important questions will be answered more definitively over time.

  To access additional IFIC resources click here.

  Links to Nutrition Today abstracts for Part 1, Part 2 and Parts 3-4.

  Link to International Food Information Council Newsletter on the Science of Sugars

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