Share:

What is SugarScience?

SugarScience.ucsf.edu is designed as an authoritative source for the scientific evidence about sugar and its impact on health. Developed by a team of health scientists from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the site reflects an exhaustive review of more than 8,000 scientific papers that have been published to date, with a focus on the areas where the science is strongest – specifically, on diabetes, heart disease and liver disease. The goal of SugarScience is to take this information out of medical journals and make it available to the public, to help individuals and communities make healthy choices.

SugarScience enables you to:

  • Explore the latest, evidence-based research on the health effects of sugar overconsumption;
  • Ask the SugarScientists questions to clear up confusion or learn more about sugar's impact on our health;
  • Download flyers, posters or graphics from the SugarScience Resource Kit to post on your refrigerator, share with friends or family, or use in presentations to your community and schools;
  • Stay connected through our newsletter, SugarScience Alerts, featuring new science and expert perspectives, and follow us on social media.

Team of Experts

The SugarScience Team includes prominent, uniquely qualified scientists from a wide spectrum of medical research specialties in some of the nation's top universities, including UCSF, UC Davis and Emory University. They are unified by a commitment to sharing the latest research on sugar and its impact on health in a clear and transparent way. Information presented on SugarScience.ucsf.edu undergoes a rigorous review process that includes in-depth reviews of scientific studies and careful vetting for accuracy. In areas where the science is still under debate or frequently miscommunicated, the SugarScience team also offers its insights in dispelling myths, to enable individuals to make more informed decisions.

Mission to Improve Health

SugarScience is supported by the Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at UCSF, the leading university exclusively focused on health.

With an overarching and ambitious public mission of “advancing health worldwide,” UCSF has a 150-year history of serving the public across the health spectrum, from advancing our understanding of fundamental biological and health sciences, to providing some of the nation's best care in UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco. The university is driven by the idea that when the best research, the best education and the best patient care converge, great breakthroughs are achieved.

 

Heart disease

A broad term for a group of chronic diseases of the heart, these diseases include problems with blood supply to heart muscle, problems with heart valves and the electrical system of the heart. Another term you will see used to mean the same thing is cardiovascular disease.

SugarScience Glossary

Liver disease

A broad term meaning any bodily process in which the liver is injured or does not work as it is supposed to. In this website we focus on liver diseases in which the diet hurts the liver

SugarScience Glossary

Diabetes mellitus

Usually shortened to just diabetes. Sometimes called sugar diabetes. Look at Type 1 Diabetes and Type 2 Diabetes for more information

SugarScience Glossary

SugarScience Facts

Today, 31% of American adults and 13% of kids suffer from non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD).

SugarScience Facts

Too much fructose in added sugar can damage your liver just like too much alcohol.

SugarScience Facts

Growing scientific evidence shows that too much added sugar, over time, is linked to diabetes, heart disease and liver disease.

Healthy Beverage Initiative
Toolkit

Learn more about how organizations are
eliminating the sale of sugar sweetened beverages.

Learn more

SugarScience
Resource Kit

Download posters, flyers, videos and more to help you share the facts with your community.

Select Your Resources