Sugar reduction - people with diabetes need to be aware
InDependent Diabetes Trust
Jenny Hirst MBE, Co Chair of the InDependent Diabetes Trust responds to the PHE’s Sugar Reduction Technical Report.
The reduction in sugar in sugary drinks and in the 9 categories of food where the government is advising the sugar reduction has implications for people with diabetes who use such drinks to treat a hypoglycaemia event, where blood glucose levels fall too low. The changes in the reformulated food and drink mean that they may not be receiving as much sugar as they think and as they have done in the past. So it is important that people with diabetes are advised to always check the label.
The changes could also lead to confusion. For example, IDDT has been contacted by the manufacturers of Lucozade to say that they are bringing out their newly formulated version with less sugar in April 2017. However, they also say that both the higher sugar version and the 10% lower version will be on sale at the same time, until stocks of the original are all sold. This could lead to confusion and makes it even more important that people check the labels to know the sugar content.
