In a two-week study of 203 people, higher baseline stress and anxiety, stronger cravings and lower confidence in controlling intake were associated with greater difficulty avoiding free sugars.
Researchers at Auckland University of Technology followed 203 people for two weeks as they tried to stop consuming free sugars. Five times a day, participants reported whether they had eaten sugar, whether they craved sweets and how they felt, allowing the team to track experiences throughout the attempt.
Lead author Rimke Bijker said participants who reported higher stress and anxiety before they began were more likely to experience more symptoms. Greater difficulty was also associated with higher sugar consumption before the study, stronger cravings and lower confidence in controlling intake.
About one in three participants avoided sugar for the full two weeks. Those who did not still consumed it infrequently. A typical participant reported eating sugar on only two of the 14 days.
Bijker cautioned that complete abstinence should not be treated as the only measure of success in everyday life. The findings point to differences in how people experience an attempt to change their diet, rather than establishing that stress or anxiety causes those difficulties.