Sugar not necessary for a good cup of tea
29 April 2019
Cutting out sugar from tea does not affect our enjoyment of the drink, according to a UCL-led pilot controlled trial.
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Researchers followed 64 men and women who drank sugar-sweetened tea over the course of a month. The participants, who had a mean age of 23, were randomly allocated to three groups: one group was asked to abruptly cut out all sugar, another to gradually reduce intake by 25% a week, while a control group continued with sugar.
Participants were asked to rate their liking of tea four weeks after the end of the one-month intervention. According to the study, the reduction in sugar intake had no impact on enjoyment of tea. Sugar intake across the groups decreased by an average of 12.7 teaspoons a week.
Four weeks after the end of the one-month intervention, eight of the participants (42%) in the gradual cessation group had stopped using sugar, while another eight (36%) had done the same in the abrupt cessation group. In the control group, one person had quit sugar.
The study, presented at the European Congress on Obesity and peer-reviewed by congress officials, was carried out by Dr Andrea Smith (UCL Behavioural Science & Health), Dr Clare Llewellyn (UCL Behavioural Science & Health), Dr Lucy Cooke (UCL Epidemiology & Public Health) and Dr Ali Fildes of the University of Leeds.
The researchers said the findings would need to be confirmed by a larger randomised controlled trial that could assess the long-term outcomes and investigate whether abruptly cutting out sugar or gradually reducing intake was more effective.
"Reducing sugar in tea doesn't affect whether we like drinking it, suggesting long-term behaviour change is possible," saidlead authorDr Andrea Smith.
“Similar interventions could be used to reduce intake of sugar in other beverages such as dilutable fruit juices (eg ܲ).”
Links
- UCL Behavioural Science & Health
- UCL Epidemiology & Public Health
- UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Health Care
- UCL Faculty of Population Health Sciences
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Mark Greaves
Tel: +44 (0)20 3108 9485
Email: m.greaves [at] ucl.ac.uk