Managing and Understanding Sweetness

Managing Sweetness is an approach to helping consumers make wise choices about all foods, including sweet-tasting foods and drinks. With obesity continuing to be a growing worldwide health concern, and with consumers continuing to largely ignore dietary advice and programs, we believe this approach of managing, not banishing, can help individuals balance their calories, and enjoy healthy eating and drinking.

Why Sweetness?

Anthropologists and nutrition scientists believe that the human preference for sweetness is innate, and a key factor in the evolution of our species. In excess, however, sugar can become a "villain" if it crowds out other, more nutrient-dense foods – or if our lives are so sedentary that we can't afford to consume any extra calories. The solution is not to banish all sweetness, but to balance its consumption, without compromising the pleasures of eating.

Managing is a basic principle of a successful life. A few examples of the things we try to manage wisely: anger, checkbooks, calories, marriage, driving speeds, relationships, sun exposure, homework, work assignments, and alcohol.

Background

We inaugurated the Managing Sweetness program at a scientific conference in Mexico City in 2004, during which the scientific experts drew up a Scientific Consensus Conference Statement. Two years later, scientists updated this Consensus Statement during a Conference held in Brussels in conjunction with the European Union's Platform for Diet, Physical Activity and Health. In the fall of 2007 we held four Managing Sweetness conferences in Latin America (Sao Paulo, Santiago, Buenos Aires and Mexico City), and in 2008, we organized three Sweetness Conferences, one entitled Understanding Sweetness at the National Press Club in Washington, DC; Managing Sweetness Conference in Beijing, China; Understanding Sweetness in Istanbul, Turkey. 2009 found us conducting further conferences in Bangkok, Thailand, and New Delhi, India.

Sweetness Resources Available

1. MANAGING SWEETNESS CONSENSUS STATEMENT

Please click below to download the Managing Sweetness Consensus Statement from:

Brussels 2006

Beijing 2008

Istanbul 2008

New Delhi 2009 (Recommendations of Conference)

2. MANAGING SWEETNESS PROGRAM SCHEDULES

Please click below to download the Sweetness Programs from:

Mexico City 2004

Brussels 2006

Latin America 2007: Brasil, Mexico, Argentina, and Chile