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Rising temperatures increase added sugar intake disproportionately in disadvantaged groups in the USA

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

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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

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