Bitter Sweet: Have Chinese Consumers Lost Their Taste for Sugar?
Sugar consumption has boomed in China in recent decades, but health-conscious youngsters and sugar-free products are hoping to reverse the trend
甜蜜的负担：无糖就健康了吗？
When Lin Yin, a 27-year-old livestreamer from Xiamen, Fujian province, was unexpectedly diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last September, she acted quickly. Shocked that she had contracted the illness so young, Lin announced on the very next day to her more than 500 followers on social media platform Xiaohongshu (RED) that she was quitting sugar.
With blood test results that showed both her fasting blood sugar level and glucose tolerance were more than double the normal range for someone her age, Lin decided to cut out cookies, soda, and milk tea, plus local delicacies like stewed pork with sweet sauce and pig’s feet with rice. “After one month, my fasting blood sugar level dropped to 5.4 millimoles per liter, within the normal range…my weight fell by 13 kilograms…even the doctor was amazed,” Lin boasted on social media last November regarding her new health regimen, which also included not eating processed and salty foods, and exercising two hours a day.
China’s per capita sugar consumption has rocketed over the last three decades, but now increasing awareness of sugar’s detrimental health impacts has seen a growing number of young Chinese wage “war” against the sweet stuff. This is enthusiastically supported by influencers and a booming market for sugar-free products, which was valued at 11.7 billion yuan in 2020 according to a report issued by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) last November.
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