Nova Scotia Dental Association calling for tougher sugar rules

Sugar may be sweet, but it's having a sour effect on people's health — and that's prompted the Nova Scotia Dental Association (NSDA) to call for stricter guidelines on the marketing of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) to children, and for more nutritional information to be made available at restaurants.

These ideas were the subject of a recent paper put out by NSDA in which it noted that besides tooth decay, excessive sugar consumption has been linked to obesity, heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes.

What are sugar-sweetened beverages?

Simply put, SSBs are beverages that have sugar added to them. While pop is the obvious example, other examples include sports drinks, energy drinks, iced tea and sweetened waters, such as Vitaminwater.

Dr. Russell MacSween, NSDA's president, says excessive consumption of SSBs is a major concern of dental associations across the country.

The association would like to see more information about sugar content posted at restaurants and fast food outlets.

"I equate it more to what they did years ago to smoking and cigarettes, and the warning labels they would have put on cigarette boxes," said MacSween.

NSDA would also like to see municipal governments, regional health authorities and workplaces establish policies and zoning bylaws that make it easier for people to access healthier food options, such as farmers markets and community gardens.

Sugar tax 'sticker shock'

The Dietitians of Canada (DOC) is also concerned about SSBs and supports many of the ideas put forth by NSDA.

"We know that rates of consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and unhealthy, less nourishing foods in general is rising, and at the same time, rates of chronic disease are going up," said Kate Comeau, a Halifax-based dietitian and a spokesperson for the group.

In February, DOC called for a tax of 10 to 20 per cent to be added to SSBs, a move which was endorsed by groups such as the Heart and Stroke Foundation, Canadian Diabetes Association and Childhood Obesity Foundation.

"The sticker shock of seeing the prices rise is actually what tends to drive the decreased purchasing," said Comeau.

Sugar taxes are in place in other countries, such as France, Mexico and even Berkeley, California. In its recent budget, the U.K. announced plans to introduce one.

'A collaborative effort'

The province is working on different policy measures to encourage people to reduce their sugar consumption. Health and Wellness spokesperson Tony Kiritsis points to the implementation of healthy eating policies at publicly funded institutions such as daycares, schools and hospitals as examples.

NSDA's call for stricter marketing and better nutritional information transparency is something the province says it is working on.

"Addressing marketing and food nutrition labels needs to be a collaborative effort between provincial, territorial and federal jurisdictions. We will be working with our federal counterparts on federally identified initiatives on healthy eating, which includes reducing marketing to children, regulating salt and fat levels in foods, revising nutrition information on food products and revising the Canada Food Guide," said Kiritsis in an email.

Comeau says these kinds of policy actions are just some of the ingredients needed to help reduce people's sugar consumption.

"It's not one thing that's going to … prevent cavities or one thing that's going to lower our rates of obesity, it's going to be a combination of actions," she said.