Sugar-free confusion not sweet for teeth

Sugar may be one of the hottest topics in the news, but a new survey has shown a desperate need for better sugar education as Britons think chocolate, sweets and fruit juice contain no

sugar. A survey of more than 2,0001 people carried out by Denplan revealed one in five people (21%) don't believe chocolate contains sugar, with the same amount (22%) thinking biscuits

are sugar-free too. Drinks are not immune from sugar ignorance either, with almost half (47%) of respondents believing that neither wine or beer contain sugar. Perhaps more worryingly, over

a third (38%) of people asked did not know that fruit juice contained sugar, despite warnings from Action on Sugar that many juices contain at least six teaspoons of sugar - more than cola.2

Other food and drinks which respondents believed were free of sugar included: The new results also showed the public's desire for more clarity on labelling of products, as 54% admitted

that they wanted to reduce their sugar consumption, but just one in five respondents could decipher whether a product contains sugar by reading ingredient labels. 80% said they don't

always check the list of ingredients before buying or eating food, and over a third of respondents (38%) said they didn't know the difference between ‘sugar-free’ and ‘no added sugar’.

Henry Clover, Deputy Chief Dental Officer at Denplan said: 'With sugar ‘hidden’ in so many unexpected foods and drinks, managing our daily sugar consumption can be a challenge.'

REFERENCES * A Onepoll survey of 2,000 participants conducted in May 2015 * http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-29986012 Download references RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions

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