Review: That Sugar Film

Posted on 14 March, 2015

Don’t take your choc tops to the cinema for this film. You won’t enjoy it and you’ll wish you’d brought yourself carrot sticks and hummus instead. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

That Sugar Film, by Australia actor Damon Gameau, is a documentary about the effects of consuming high amounts of hidden sugar in our food supply. In a nut shell, it’s a vibrant, highly engaging documentation of a 60-day sugar binge that will leave you questioning many aspects of the way you view food and its role in our body and our health.

Damon, accustomed to eating low amounts of sugar in his regular diet, consumes the equivalent of 40 teaspoons of sugar per day for 60 consecutive days. But there’s a catch. He’s not allowed to meet his 40 teaspoon a day target through ‘junk’ foods like soft drink, lollies, chocolate and ice cream.

He can only eat foods with hidden sugar.

These are typically low-fat products and foods commonly thought of as ‘healthy’. This includes food like commercial breakfast cereals, flavoured yoghurts, muesli bars, fruit juice, jarred sauces and other packaged food or meal replacement style drinks.

After two months on this high sugar diet, Damon finds that his body and health has been significantly affected. Biochemical tests show the initial signs of fatty liver, he puts on a total of 12 kilograms, reports mood swings and a decline in his overall mental state.

So what’s the message?

Be wary of foods that claim to be healthy (natural, low-fat, lite, etc) as they can be packed full of sugar and may be the reason why you’re struggling to lose weight or manage your health. Limiting your sugar intake could be the answer to your health woes.

I had the privilege of previewing the film a few weeks ago, in preparation for speaking at the Q&A screenings of the film this Monday 16 March in Canberra.

My thoughts…?

I think the film makes some valid points:

1. As a culture, we eat far too much processed food and as a result our overall sugar intake is too high. We could all do with being smarter with our food choices and eat foods closer to nature and less manufactured.
2. Much of the sugar we do eat is ‘hidden’ in foods and a lot of the time we don’t realise it’s there. For example, one tablespoon of tomato sauce contains one teaspoon of sugar. If you look at the ingredients of many processed foods, sugar (using a range of different terms and names) is often one of the top three ingredients.
3. High sugar foods are easy to overeat and often leave us wanting more. Industry has done a good job of making our food taste amazing. We need to be much more mindful with our food choices and strike a better balance with our foods. Seeking professional help from a nutritionist or dietitian is the best way forward.

My one critique, as a nutritionist, is that I disagree with the approach of focussing on individual nutrients, like sugar, rather than a focus on whole foods. We don’t eat nutrients in isolation, we eat food and food is a mixture of nutrients in varying proportions. Focusing on individual nutrients can be counter-productive and confusing.

Sugar is a naturally occurring nutrient and these recent recommendations to ‘quit’ sugar have left many people confused and often limiting foods such as fruit, some vegetables and dairy all because they naturally contain sugar.

The World Health Organisation outlines that the research shows no adverse effects to our health with sugar consumption from these sources. It’s important that the type of sugars are clearly articulated and if you have to go into too much detail to deliver your message it often gets lost on the masses.

Recommending someone reduce their sugar intake has a number of limitations. It doesn’t address their fibre, fat and vegetable intake or their overall diet quality. Like any dietary philosophy that involves cutting our foods or nutrients (paleo, vegetarian, vegan) you can have a healthy version of this eating pattern or an unhealthy version.

A better recommendation, that has less ‘technicality’, would be to eat a high volume of vegetables, about five serves a day, eat two serves of fruit per day and let the majority of your diet come from foods that are unprocessed (meat, nuts, seeds, legumes, milk, yoghurt and high fibre grains).

When we start looking at sugar or fat or any other nutrient for that matter we have to specifically indicate that some are ‘good’ and some are ‘bad’, when in reality, good nutrition is about overall diet quality and what foods you eat regularly. It’s naive to blame individual foods or nutrients as the culprit. Some foods are just more nutritious that others and, so far, the best evidence for long term good health is a diet rich in whole, fresh vegetables and fruits.

If you’re keen to read more of my thoughts, with the full review, click here.

The essentials
What: That Sugar Film screening and Q&A
When: 8pm Monday 16 March
Where: Event Cinemas, Manuka
Tickets: Book online