Sugar consumption and global obesity and hypertension rates across countries
What it found
Higher national sugar availability was linked to higher obesity rates across 123 countries.
The link between sugar and high blood pressure disappeared after accounting for other factors.
What they found
Studies in people
Sugar and obesity rates
Countries with more sugar available for people to eat had higher obesity rates. This link held even after accounting for wealth, city living and lack of exercise.
Shape of the sugar link
The rise in obesity was steepest at lower levels of sugar supply, which mostly matched poorer countries. In wealthier countries, extra sugar supply was less strongly tied to obesity rates.
Sugar and high blood pressure
Sugar supply initially appeared linked to higher blood pressure rates across 79 countries. That link disappeared once the analysis accounted for age, body weight and cereal supply.
Cereals and disease rates
Countries with more cereals available for consumption tended to have lower obesity and lower high blood pressure rates. This pattern remained after adjusting for other factors.
Gender differences in obesity
Women had higher obesity rates than men in almost all countries studied. This gap was widest in lower-income nations.
What the authors conclude
- They suggest that high sugar supply, low cereal supply and physical inactivity contribute to rising obesity and high blood pressure worldwide.
- They advise that efforts to cut sugar intake might bring the biggest health gains in lower-income countries, where the link between sugar and disease is steepest.
- They call for global investment to limit sugar intake and keep traditional diets rich in whole grains.
How it was done
Scientists wanted to understand how changes in food supply, lifestyle and wealth relate to worldwide rates of excess weight and high blood pressure. They used a model that tracks how diets shift as countries develop.
They compared country-level data on food supply, physical inactivity, wealth and urban living with rates of overweight, obesity and high blood pressure. The analysis covered up to 128 countries using records collected up to 2007.
What it can’t tell you
- This work compares whole countries rather than tracking individual people, so it cannot prove that eating sugar causes weight gain or high blood pressure in any one person.
- Food supply numbers measure what is available nationally, not what each person actually eats, so they may overestimate true intake by 20 to 27 percent.
Who paid
- Funding
- Funded by Medical Research Council (from the PubMed record).
- Authors work at
- Newcastle University, UK; UCL Institute of Child Health, UK
The paper
- Title
- Sugar consumption and global prevalence of obesity and hypertension: an ecological analysis
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Siervo M, Montagnese C, Mathers JC, Soroka KR, Stephan BC, Wells JC (2014). Sugar consumption and global prevalence of obesity and hypertension: an ecological analysis. Public health nutrition. doi:10.1017/S1368980013000141Free full textPubMed 23414749DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error