| He, Pan  ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1088-6290, Xu, Zhuojing, Chan, Duo, Liu, Pengfei and Bai, Yan
      2025.
      
      Rising temperatures increase added sugar intake disproportionately in disadvantaged groups in the USA.
      Nature Climate Change
      15
      
        (9)
      
      , pp. 963-970.
      
      10.1038/s41558-025-02398-8   | 
| Preview | PDF
 - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. Download (2MB) | Preview | 
Abstract
Extreme heat may affect added sugar consumption through the increased intake of drinks and frozen desserts, but such an impact is rarely quantified. Here, using individual transaction-level data for US households in 2004–2019, we find that added sugar consumption is positively related to temperature, notably within 12–30 °C at a rate of 0.70 g °C−1. This is primarily driven by the higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and frozen desserts. The magnitude of such impact is larger among households with lower income or educational levels. Our projections indicate a substantial nationwide increase in added sugar consumption of 2.99 g per day by 2095 (or equivalently 5 °C warming level), with vulnerable groups at an even higher risk. Our results highlight the critical need to mitigate health risks from the over-intake of added sugar and to explore dietary adaptation to climate change.
| Item Type: | Article | 
|---|---|
| Date Type: | Publication | 
| Status: | Published | 
| Schools: | Schools > Earth and Environmental Sciences | 
| Publisher: | Nature Research | 
| ISSN: | 1758-678X | 
| Date of First Compliant Deposit: | 15 September 2025 | 
| Date of Acceptance: | 3 July 2025 | 
| Last Modified: | 16 Sep 2025 10:00 | 
| URI: | https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181105 | 
Actions (repository staff only)
|  | Edit Item | 

 
							

 Dimensions
 Dimensions Dimensions
 Dimensions