Nutrition
Sugar consumption dropped by ten percent
Many consumers in Germany pay attention to the sugar content of food. Show new numbers: At least purely mathematically, the consumed sugar quantity has dropped again.
Less sugar is consumed in Germany. In the 2023/24 financial year, the average consumption per person decreased from 33.9 to 30.4 kilograms, as the Federal Information Center Agriculture (BZL) announced. That was ten percent less than in the twelve months before.
“The numbers alone are not proof of an actually declining sugar consumption, because they relate to sugar produced in Germany and a purely mathematical per capita consumption,” said the head of the Federal Center for Nutrition, Barbara Kaiser. Current data from the Max-Rubner Institute showed, however, that the sugar content of some important processed foods had been significantly reduced. Examples of this are breakfast cereals and yoghurt preparations.
The value specified by the BZL includes sugar that is used for food purposes. This includes sugar in bread spreads, fruit juices, baked goods and ice cream. There are also quantities of sugar that are used to make conservations durable and not be consumed, such as cucumber water. The naturally occurring sugar is not included in fruits or honey. The per capita consumption is declining for the second time as a result.
Higher crop yields despite bad weather
With many foods, it can taste a little less sweet for consumers. This emerges from the nutritional report recently published by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. 85 percent of the respondents support the fact that finished food is added to less sugar. Two thirds always pay attention to the sugar content when buying food – and thus significantly more than in fat or salt.
Despite a lot of rain and little sun, the German beet makers in 2023/24 with 4.2 million tons of sugar recorded higher harvest yields than in the same period last year. Most of the sugar used in Germany flows into food consumption.
dpa
Source: Stern
