How reading nutritional labels could reduce diabetes rates, expert says

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With diabetes cases projected to soar to 1.3 billion by 2050, primarily due to obesity, one Canadian entrepreneur thinks knowing how to read food labels could be key to stalling the surge.

Brad Woodgate, author of "No Sugar In Me," said the way food companies market their products is misleading to consumers and can lead to unhealthy eating.

“Food companies are starting to get smarter by saying ‘no added sugar’ or ‘reduced sugar’ and all these marketing terminologies,” he told CTVNews.ca on Friday.

But that doesn't account for natural sugars that occur in some of the ingredients being used.

Woodgate, who believes removing refined sugar from a person’s diet can lead to efficient weight loss, also said food corporations, and regulatory bodies, should realize refined sugar and the misleading marketing is “the culprit of the majority of these (health) issues.”

There are at least 61 different names for sugar listed on food labels, according to a team of health scientists from the University of California, San Francisco. While most product labels show the sugar levels, it makes it hard to truly know how much is from added sugar and how much is naturally occurring from ingredients such as fruits or milk.

“I’m an expert in the field and I can’t even remember all the names right now. How is the average consumer going to know?” said Woodgate, who is also the CEO of a health food company.

When looking at a label, ingredients are listed in a descending order from largest to smallest quantity.

So, the first three ingredients are the most important and if sugar – or any of its divergent names – is listed there “you should be very careful with the consumption of that product,” said Woodgate. Consumers should also look at the fiber percentage, as this one tends to be very low on processed foods.

GENES PLAY A ROLE

According to a 2022 news release by Diabetes Canada, 11.7 million Canadians are living with diabetes or prediabetes – 5.7 million Canadians have diabetes (type 1 and type 2 diagnosed or type 2 undiagnosed), and 6 million are prediabetic, a condition that, if left unattended, can develop into type 2 diabetes.

The majority of the cases in Canada and worldwide are type 2 diabetes, which is linked to lifestyle choices like not being physically active and being overweight or obese, since extra weight can sometimes causes insulin resistance.

However, genes also play a role.

Certain populations such as people of African, Arab, Asian, Hispanic, Indigenous, or South Asian descent are at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a spokesperson from Diabetes Canada told CTVNews.ca in an email last week.

At the same time, the prevalence of diabetes among Indigenous adults compared to non-Indigenous adults is significant, being 1.72 times higher for First Nations adults living off reserve, 1.22 times for Metis adults, and 1.18 times for Inuit adults, Diabetes Canada said.

Also, the organization said the prevalence of diabetes among South Asian and Black adults is 2.29 times and 1.91 times higher respectively than among white adults.

BEING HEALTHY IS ‘STILL A PREMIUM’

In Canada, the prevalence of diabetes among adults in the lowest income group is 2.09 times higher than that of adults in the highest income group, according to Diabetes Canada.

“I think in North America, we all have the ability to live a lower to no-sugar diet in terms of (food) availability. The issue is that the cost of it, at this time, it's still a premium,” said Woodgate.

He says the price point is mostly because it is difficult for companies to achieve two things: make something taste the same, if not better, without using sugar, and to find natural replacement ingredients in bulk.

“I believe over time, as more and more companies buy these ingredients, it'll just make the prices come down as it naturally does in a competitive market.”