A giant sugar heart appeared today, 1st February, at Sydney’s iconic Botanical Gardens, to kick-start global heart health month.
Free to visit for one day only, the number one global nutrition and food tracking app, MyFitnessPal, has launched the global ‘Less Sweet, More Heart’ to remind Aussies and people around the world about the importance of reducing their sugar intake for the sake of their heart health. The heart at the botanic gardens represents the 10,950 cubes of sugar the average Aussie consumes each year.
With iterations set to appear in London, Toronto and Miami, the sugar hearts coincide with new research revealing that sugar tops the charts as the number one type of food that Aussies want to cut back on, with almost two thirds (64%) wanting to reduce their consumption.
Despite New Years’ resolutions, January was the month Aussies ranked highest for the month they consumed the most amount of sugar, during the summer holidays, followed by February, the month of Valentine’s Day.
“Excessive consumption of sugar can lead to obesity, which has negative health implications on blood pressure and can cause heart disease. At the Heart Research Institute, we are using state-of-the-art technology to understand what happens to those sugars in the body, and the genetic and molecular pathways which lead to poor heart health. This heart health month, I’d encourage anyone looking to make a positive change to their heart health to reduce their sugar intake.” says Dr Ashish Misra, Heart Research Institute.
“The only way to really understand how much sugar you’re consuming is to track your food. While it’s encouraging to see so many people across Australia wanting to reduce their sugar intake, it’s hard to make a real difference until you know where you’re starting from.” said author and fitness coach, Luke Hines.
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