No Sugar November 🧃🥤🚫

High consumption of sugary drinks is associated with many negative health impacts, including tooth decay, gum disease, oral infections, oral cancer, obesity, and chronic diseases. Despite these proven links to poor health outcomes, research shows Australians drink at least 2.4 billion litres of sugary drinks every year — enough to fill 960 Olympic sized swimming pools.

AMA President Professor Steve Robson said this alarming figure showed “Sugary drinks are making Australians sick, with a worrying number of children and adults alike suffering from chronic diseases,” Professor Robson said “Sugary drinks are a leading contributor to tooth decay through its acidity and source of nutrition to bacteria in the mouth. This acidity can lead to irreversible loss of tooth structure contributing to pain, loss of function, aesthetic changes, and bad breath.

Dr Liew from the Australian Dental association said one in four Australian children and one in three adults had untreated tooth decay,

while ten in 1000 children aged 5–9 experienced potentially preventable hospitalisations for dental conditions.

“It is not hard to see the role that poor oral hygiene and a high sugar intake have on the health of Australians, particularly children,” Dr Liew said.

So we know the consumption of sugar sweetened beverages, can contribute to these links should encourage people to act on reducing the quantity of consumption and sugar additions.

Together we can improve our health and save money by reaching for a glass of water instead of a soft drink or skip the sugar in your tea or coffee.