As the President and CEO of the Sugar Association, what are your primary responsibilities, and how do you ensure that the association makes a significant impact on the industry?
The Sugar Association serves as the scientific voice of the US sugar industry, representing sugar beet and sugar cane growers, processors, and refiners. I am a dietitian and scientist, so the onus falls on me to ensure we provide evidence-based information to help consumers, health professionals, educators, and policymakers understand sugar, its production and functions, and how it fits into healthy dietary patterns.
How does the Sugar Association advocate for and educate the public about sugar?
Advocating for evidence-based policies about sugar and educating key audiences has never been more important, and it has never required more commitment and investment of time and resources. There are a lot of tightly held beliefs that have brought us to where we are today, and inserting facts into the dialogue that challenge those beliefs is difficult.
For decades, there has been a hyper-focus on restricting added sugars consumption, but with added sugars consumption at its lowest level in 40 years, the evidence clearly shows that this narrow focus is not improving overall diets or reducing obesity and diet-related diseases, which continue to rise. That fact is hard for many people to believe.
The Sugar Association supports gold standard science and effective, evidence-based strategies that focus on reducing overconsumption of the products that most contribute to excess calorie intake, while avoiding unintended consequences like the proliferation of industrial additives such as artificial sweeteners in food – far beyond their well-known and easily recognized use in diet beverages and colorful packets in restaurants.
Understanding different sources of added sugars and their contributions to diets is also a key element of our resources for health professionals, educators, and consumers themselves. The Sugar Association provides a wide range of lesson plans for educators – from lessons on photosynthesis in sugar beets and sugar cane to facts about sugar intake – with options tailored to different grades and skill levels.
We also provide comprehensive resources for health professionals – like our recently published toolkit for dietitians to help their patients and clients maintain balanced diets and meet their individual goals.
Finally, we have visually appealing and easy-to-understand versions of these resources intended for general consumers. Our digital campaigns and social media content help consumers understand where sugar comes from, how much sugar fits into a balanced diet, the role of sugar in foods, and fun facts and recipes, in keeping with the sweet side of sugar we all know and love.
How is the Sugar Association addressing the changing consumer demands and preferences, especially regarding health and wellness concerns related to sugar?
In a world where nutrition policy and guidance can too often lean towards extreme approaches, we aim to support achieving recommended sugar intakes through educating on balance, because the evidence tells us that a balanced diet is a healthy diet.
Consumers have received so much information about sugar over the past decade. We find that providing simple facts about sugar helps cut through the noise. Our consumer polling has found that 81% of Americans feel it is important to know the intake guidelines for added sugars, but just 15% can accurately state the guideline. Once informed about the Dietary Guidelines recommendation, which is equal to 50 grams or 12.5 teaspoons of sugar per day in a 2000-calorie diet, 58% of Americans feel more confident in managing their sugar intake.
Our digital campaign “Life is sweet; keep it balanced” aims to increase Americans’ awareness of the guideline and their confidence in achieving it, including providing evidence-based information about the amount, purpose, and health impact of added sugars in different foods.
Thus far, the campaign has reached more than 42 million consumers nationwide through ad buys across major digital and social media platforms.
Read the full interview in our latest issue here
