In This Issue

FEATURE: Sin taxes- the arguments for and against
NEWS: Joint Position Statement on Oral Health & Nutrition
NEWS: Online food delivery typically unhealthy fare

Welcome

Welcome to Issue 70 of Sweet Bites, and our first issue of 2022.
In this issue our feature article is about sin taxes and the arguments for and against, specifically around a sugar tax in Australia.

Our News items are the new Joint Position on Oral Health and Nutrition from Dietitians Australia and Dental Health Services Victoria, and the unhealthy fare being ordered through online food delivery platforms.

From the journals we’ve gathered three papers on sugars, carbohydrates and health: 1. Australian research examining a carbohydrate quality metric and its association with overall diet quality; 2. An analysis of the European PREDIMED study on simple sugar intake and cancer and mortality; and 3. A study examining associations between carbohydrate and saturated fat intake and CVD in Australian women.

We hope you enjoy this issue and invite you to be in touch if you have any feedback or suggestions for topics for future articles.

Monthly Feature

Sin taxes- the arguments for and against

On the surface, a sugar tax is an attractive idea to encourage positive behaviour change. We delve deeper into how the case stacks up.

News

Joint Position Statement on Oral Health & Nutrition

Collaboration between Dietitians Australia (DA) and Dental Health Services Victoria (DHSV) for better oral health

Learn More

Online food delivery typically unhealthy fare

Home delivery of food has been easy and quick during the COVID-19 pandemic, however its poor nutritional quality is the downside.

Learn More

Research Updates

Here is a selection of recently published papers of interest.

1. Blumfield M, McConnell A, Cassettari T et. al. Balanced carbohydrate ratios are associated with improved diet quality in Australia: A nationally representative cross-sectional study. PLoS ONE 2021;16(7): e0253582 (open access).
Finding: This study tested three metrics of carbohydrate quality on overall diet quality:
(i) Simple ratio, 10:1 (10g carbohydrate: ≥1g dietary fibre)
(ii) Modified ratio, 10:1:2 (10g carbohydrate: ≥1g dietary fibre: ≤2g free sugars)
(iii) Dual ratio,10:1 & 1:2 (10g carbohydrate:≥1g dietary fibre & ≤2g free sugars per 1g dietary fibre)
All carbohydrate ratios were associated with higher diet quality, with greatest nutrient intakes found in those who met the Modified or Dual ratios.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0253582

2. Laguna JC, Alegret M, Cofán M et.al. Simple sugar intake and cancer incidence, cancer mortality and all-cause mortality: A cohort study from the PREDIMED trial. Clin Nutr. 2021 Oct;40(10):5269-5277 (open access).
Finding: in individuals at high risk of CVD and cancer, simple sugar intake in liquid form was significantly associated with cancer risk. Cancer risk was lower when liquid sugars were replaced by (iso-caloric) fats, sugars in solid form or complex carbohydrates. Sugars in solid foods, including fructose in fruit, were not associated with increased cancer risk.
https://www.clinicalnutritionjournal.com/article/S0261-5614(21)00367-8/fulltext

3. Gribbin S, Enticott J, Hodge AM et. Al. Association of carbohydrate and saturated fat intake with cardiovascular disease and mortality in Australian women. Heart. 2021 Sep 11:heartjnl-2021-319654. doi: 10.1136/heartjnl-2021-319654 (pay to view).
Finding: In middle aged women, there was no significant association between carbohydrate or saturated fat intake and mortality. Moderate carbohydrate intake (41-43% En) was associated with the lowest risk of new-onset CVD.
https://heart.bmj.com/content/early/2021/09/11/heartjnl-2021-319654

About Us

The Sugar Nutrition Resource Centre (SNRC) is committed to providing health care professionals with evidence-based information on sugar and nutrition.

Our work continues to be guided by scientific experts from Australia and New Zealand.

As always, we would love to hear any feedback from you.

About the Editor

NICOLE SENIOR
Nutritionist, Sydney

Nicole is an experienced Accredited Practising Dietitian and Nutritionist, author, speaker, blogger, cook and food enthusiast with an interest in turning evidence based nutrition guidelines into sensible, achievable and enjoyable everyday eating advice and supporting other food and health professionals to do the same.

Locked Bag 2222, North Ryde 2113, Australia