Sugar Consumption on Rise Worldwide

Reuters: "Our diet keeps getting sweeter, due in large part to the popularity of sugary soft drinks and other sweetened beverages, according to a new study. North Carolina researchers report that the average daily consumption of sugar and other calorie-containing sweeteners worldwide jumped 74 calories from 1962 to 2000. In the U.S., the jump in sweet calories was even greater - 83 calories per day from 1977 to 1996. Most of those extra sweet calories - 80 percent - came from sugary soft drinks and fruit drinks, researchers report in the November issue of the journal Obesity Research."