Unveiling the environmental benefits of reducing sugar
Authors: Milton A U de Andrade, James E M Watson, Sean L Maxwell
Journal: The Lancet Planetary Health (2020)

The overconsumption of sugar is associated with several human health issues, including tooth decay, obesity, and non-communicable diseases.1WHOGuideline: sugars intake for adults and children. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland2015Google Scholar Many countries therefore aim to reduce sugar consumption to levels recommended by WHO—ie, added sugars should make up less than 10% of total energy intake.1WHOGuideline: sugars intake for adults and children. World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland2015Google Scholar Early evidence suggests that some interventions effectively curb sugar consumption rates. For example, the purchase of sugar-sweetened beverages in Mexico decreased by 8·2% 2 years after a sugar tax was implemented.2Colchero M Popkin B Rivera J Ng S Sustained consumer response: evidence from two-years after the sugar sweetened beverage tax in Mexico.Health Aff (Millwood). 2017; 36: 564-571Crossref PubMed Scopus (282) Google Scholar Yet sugar consumption rates remain excessive around the world, with countries such as the USA, Russia, and Brazil having consumption rates that are at least two times higher than the safe consumption levels.3FAOSTATFood supply quantity of sugar & sweeteners in 2017.http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FBSDate accessed: July 7, 2020Google Scholar Contrasting global efforts to reduce sugar consumption, many countries are now adopting policies to increase demand for biofuels, such as bioethanol. Bioethanol is a low-carbon and cost-effective alternative to petroleum-based fuels. However, the expansion of crops used to produce bioethanol could impose food security issues and threaten ecosystems and species of conservation concern.4Renzaho AMN Kamara JK Toole M Biofuel production and its impact on food security in low and middle income countries: implications for the post-2015 sustainable development goals.Renew Sustain Energy Rev. 2017; 78: 503-516Crossref Scopus (44) Google Scholar, 5Fargione J Hill J Tilman D Polasky S Hawthorne P Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt.Science. 2008; 319: 1235-1238Crossref PubMed Scopus (2731) Google Scholar Moreover, the clearing of carbon-dense native vegetation to grow energy crops could nullify the climate change mitigation benefits of switching from petroleum to bioethanol.5Fargione J Hill J Tilman D Polasky S Hawthorne P Land clearing and the biofuel carbon debt.Science. 2008; 319: 1235-1238Crossref PubMed Scopus (2731) Google Scholar Reducing sugar consumption could be the key to increasing bioethanol production without causing food security issues or further loss of native ecosystems. Brazil is the world's largest producer of sugarcane—a crop commonly used in both sugar and bioethanol production. Through a combination of pro-biofuel policies and climate pledges, demand for bioethanol in Brazil could more than double over the next decade.6de Andrade Junior, MAU Valin H Soterroni AC Ramos FM Halog A Exploring future scenarios of ethanol demand in Brazil and their land-use implications.Energy Policy. 2019; 134110958Crossref Scopus (15) Google Scholar Meeting this demand is expected to require agricultural expansion within Brazil's highly threatened biomes, such as the Cerrado.6de Andrade Junior, MAU Valin H Soterroni AC Ramos FM Halog A Exploring future scenarios of ethanol demand in Brazil and their land-use implications.Energy Policy. 2019; 134110958Crossref Scopus (15) Google Scholar We estimate, however, that a 37% reduction in global demand for Brazilian sugar by 2030 could release enough sugarcane feedstock to avoid bioethanol-driven agricultural expansion into forested or grassland ecosystems in Brazil (appendix p 1). In November, 2018, the Health Ministry of Brazil signed an agreement with food and beverage industries that aims to reduce domestic sugar consumption by 144 000 tons by 2022. Regardless of their aim or character, however, we argue that national efforts to reduce sugar consumption rates will achieve wider reach and greater efficacy if they leverage the potential benefits for biodiversity and climate change mitigation. For the environmental benefits of reduced sugar consumption to be realised, any biofuel-driven expansion of sugarcane needs to occur over abandoned or existing agricultural lands and not promote the displacement of agricultural activities into native vegetation. Until recently, Brazil had a long-term policy in place to safeguard natural ecosystems from sugarcane expansion. This policy—called sugarcane agroecological zoning—was revoked by the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in November, 2019, leaving natural ecosystems susceptible to sugarcane expansion.7de Andrade Junior, MAU Maxwell SL Watson JEM Renewed threats to Brazilian biodiversity from sugarcane.Front Ecol Environ. 2020; 18: 178-180Crossref Scopus (3) Google Scholar We urge the Brazilian Government to reinstate sugarcane agroecological zoning given it complements and strengthens environmental safeguards that remain in place. We also recognise the urgent need to strengthen and enforce policies concerning protected areas and Indigenous lands in Brazil.8Crouzeilles R Feltran-Barbieri R Ferreira MS Strassburg BBN Hard times for the Brazilian environment.Nat Ecol Evol. 2017; 11213Crossref Scopus (25) Google Scholar Managers of these areas need more support to continue to repel unlawful or unwanted agricultural expansion with great effect.9Nolte C Agrawal A Silvius KM Soares-Filho BS Governance regime and location influence avoided deforestation success of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon.Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2013; 110: 4956-4961Crossref PubMed Scopus (263) Google Scholar Beyond Brazil, there is a global opportunity to coordinate health and environmental policies concerning sugar consumption and bioethanol use. Coordination will be most beneficial in countries where sugar consumption exceeds safe levels and where bioethanol programmes are already in place (eg, USA, Australia, and most European nations). Indeed, most countries that already use bioethanol for transportation have excessive sugar consumption rates (appendix p 2). We encourage these countries to plan their supply of bioethanol in tandem with efforts to control and reduce sugar consumption. Besides the important human health benefits, this coordination would help avoid the climate and biodiversity impacts that come from expanding bioethanol-driven farmland into native ecosystems. Similar interconnections between human nutrition and planetary health have been highlighted for issues such as obesity, water scarcity, and soft drink consumption.10Schmidt L Mialon M Kearns C Crosbie E Transnational corporations, obesity and planetary health.Lancet Planet Health. 2020; 4: e266-e267Summary Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (6) Google Scholar We recognise that a strong global reduction in demand for sugar would be unprecedented. But the health and economic costs of excessive sugar consumption are so high that radical measures to reduce sugar intake are now justified and necessary. Making explicit links to the biodiversity and climate benefits of reducing sugar consumption could expand the reach and efficacy of national sugar consumption policies. Realising these environmental benefits will require that countries such as Brazil renew, strengthen, and enforce environmental policies, and will contribute toward global goals for human health, the climate, and biodiversity conservation. We declare no competing interests. Download .pdf (.3 MB) Help with pdf files Supplementary appendix