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A study revealed that stress, anxiety, and high prior sugar consumption, along with low confidence in one's ability to control intake, may make quitting it more difficult.
Remke Becker, a researcher in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Auckland University of Technology, said that people who suffer from high levels of stress and anxiety before attempting to stop eating sugar are more likely to face symptoms and difficulties during this phase.
Becker and her colleagues monitored 203 participants who tried to abstain from sugar over two weeks. They were asked to record data five times a day, including sugar intake, the intensity of cravings for sweets, and their psychological state.
The results showed that people who were accustomed to consuming larger amounts of sugar, had intense cravings for it, or lacked confidence in their ability to control their consumption, faced greater difficulty in quitting.
Becker said that high levels of stress and anxiety before starting the experiment were also linked to an increased likelihood of experiencing symptoms associated with trying to stop eating sugar.
However, about a third of the participants succeeded in abstaining completely throughout the study period. As for the rest of the participants, not abstaining completely was not an obstacle to reducing consumption, as the average participant consumed sugar on only two days out of 14.
The researcher emphasized the importance of not limiting success to complete abstinence from sugar, considering that eating sugar once should not be considered a failure, and that gradually reducing its consumption can be a positive step toward changing dietary habits.
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