THE GLOBAL WINDOW OF TURKISH FOOD AND AGRICULTURE The Global Window of Turkish Food and Agriculture Sector
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November, 2024…
Sugar addiction among people is on the rise. Worldwide, sugar consumption has quadrupled in the last 60 years. It now accounts for 8 percent of all calories consumed.
One might think of sugar as a food for humans. But added sugars are actually empty calories, lacking nutrients such as vitamins or fibre. The result is huge health costs as sugar is linked to obesity worldwide. Some estimates suggest that half of the global population could be obese by 2035.
A 20 percent reduction in sugar consumption is estimated to save 10.3 billion dollars (357 billion Turkish lira as of 28 November 2024) in healthcare costs in the US alone. But the impacts of sugar go far beyond health and money.
How is sugar affecting the world?
There are many environmental issues, such as habitat and biodiversity loss from growing sugar and water pollution from fertiliser and processing plants. However, despite being the largest cultivated agricultural crop by mass on the planet, sugar does not receive much attention from the scientific community.
In a recent scientific study assessing the environmental impacts of sugar, researchers looked at ways to reduce dietary sugar to recommended levels by reducing production or using the saved sugar in environmentally beneficial ways.
By phasing out sugar, land can be saved that can be rewilded and carbon stored. This is particularly important in biodiverse tropical regions where sugar production is concentrated, such as Brazil and India.
What can be done with unconsumed sugar?
But diverting sugar away from diets and into other environmentally beneficial uses, such as bioplastics or biofuels, may be a different and more politically feasible option.
The biggest opportunity, according to the study, is to use sugar to feed protein-producing microbes. Using sugar saved from consumption for microbial protein could yield enough plant-based, protein-rich food products to regularly feed 521 million people. There could also be huge benefits in terms of emissions and water if this protein were to replace animal protein.
Source: The Conversation
