Eating large quantities of sugar is associated with obesity, according to scientists at the Medical Research Council.
Although the link between sugar and obesity is an obvious and well-known one, previous studies have not always shown this to be the case.
Researchers from the Medical Research Council and University of Cambridge looking into the links between diet and cancer have developed a new way of objectively measuring sugar consumption, which is vital in establishing the cause of Britain’s epidemic of obesity – over-eating or lack of exercise .
The research team has come up with a new urine test which allows them to work out how much sugar is being consumed for the first time by large amounts of people. The levels of urinary sucrose and fructose - two types of sugar - are measured in spot urine samples.
Data from hundreds of volunteers from the European Prospective Investigation of Cancer (EPIC) study was used to help researchers combine information from diet self-reporting with data from the urine and blood samples .
The team found that obese people underestimated the amount of sugar they consumed, while overestimating their intake amount of vitamin C each day.
Leading the study was Professor Sheila Bingham, who commented: "The spot urine and blood tests established that obese people consume more sugar and less vitamin C than their thinner counterparts, but this did not show up when asked."
"Although obese people may have a less active lifestyle than people of normal weight, reports about what they ate were less accurate than those from their normal weight counterparts."
Figures showed that the 20 per cent of people tested who consumed the least amount of sugar ate around 76g per day, but the 20 per cent who ate the most consumed nearly triple that amount – an average of 207g each day.
Professor Bingham, from the MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit and EPIC study added: "These results show what many have suspected for some time: obese people are not able to tell us what they actually eat."
"If we are to tackle the scourge of obesity, both exercise and diet need to be taken into account ."
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