Dietary sugars and human disease : report of the Panel on Dietary Sugars, Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy.

  • Great Britain. Panel on Dietary Sugars
Date:
1989
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Dietary sugars and human disease : report of the Panel on Dietary Sugars, Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    1. Introduction 1.1 Background to the Panel 1.1.1 In its Report published in 1984! the Panel on Diet in relation to Cardiovascular Disease of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy (COMA) recommended to the general public that ‘intake of simple sugars (sucrose, glucose and fructose) should not be increased further’, and that ‘these sugars and foods containing them are appreciable sources of food energy and may contribute to obesity. Certain foods containing these sugars may also contain saturated fatty acids (eg cakes and biscuits)’. It also noted that ‘restriction of intake of these sugars has been recommended on other health grounds (eg dental caries)’. 1.1.2 COMA has noted the conflicting evidence and changing opinion in recent years about the role of dietary sugars in cardiovascular disease, dental caries and other disorders. It has considered the views expressed in two recent exert reports on sugars in the diet, one in the UK? and the other from the United States.? In 1986 COMA convened this Panel on Dietary Sugars to review the role of dietary sugars in disease in the United Kingdom. -1.2. Terms of reference of the Panel ‘To examine the role of dietary sugars in human disease and to make recommendations’. 1.3 Interpretation of terms of reference Although the Panel has concerned itself with carbohydrate foods with the chemical characteristics of sugars, it has given particular attention to sucrose as the sugar predominating in the UK diet. Sugars have been considered in relation to a wide spectrum of human diseases and reviewed in the light of published evidence. Obesity as a risk factor for several other conditions (eg diabetes, hypertension) occupied a special position in these considerations. We have mainly considered observations and experiments in humans; animal experiments have been considered only when they appeared to have clear relevance to human disease. Artificial sweeteners have been considered to the extent that they might be used instead of dietary sugars. 1.4 Meetings of the Panel 1.4.1 The Panel was appointed at the end of 1986 at the recommendation of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy. It met ten times. —