From Watts Up With That?

Essay by Eric Worrall

See how unhealthy warm weather is?

Global warming linked to consumption of sugary drinks, ice cream

edited by Andrew Zinin
SEPTEMBER 8, 2025

People consuming more sugary drinks and ice cream on warmer days, particularly those with less money, could pose a growing threat to health as climate change drives up temperatures, new research warned Monday.

Sugar is a major contributor to serious health problems such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease, yet consumption of the sweet additive has surged across the world in recent decades.

Hotter days could be one factor nudging people to grab cooling sugary drinks like soda and juice—or a few scoops of ice cream, according to a study in the journal Nature Climate Change.

“Your environment definitely shapes what you eat and how you eat, and climate change is part of it—it might have an adverse influence on your health,” study co-author Duo Chan of the University of Southampton told AFP.

…Read more: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-global-linked-consumption-sugary-ice.html

The linked study;

Published: 08 September 2025

Rising temperatures increase added sugar intake disproportionately in disadvantaged groups in the USA

• Pan He, 
• Zhuojing Xu, 
• Duo Chan, 
• Pengfei Liu & 
• Yan Bai 

Nature Climate Change volume 15, pages 963–970 (2025)Cite this article

Abstract

Extreme heat may affect added sugar consumption through the increased intake of drinks and frozen desserts, but such an impact is rarely quantified. Here, using individual transaction-level data for US households in 2004–2019, we find that added sugar consumption is positively related to temperature, notably within 12–30 °C at a rate of 0.70 g °C⁻¹. This is primarily driven by the higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and frozen desserts. The magnitude of such impact is larger among households with lower income or educational levels. Our projections indicate a substantial nationwide increase in added sugar consumption of 2.99 g per day by 2095 (or equivalently 5 °C warming level), with vulnerable groups at an even higher risk. Our results highlight the critical need to mitigate health risks from the over-intake of added sugar and to explore dietary adaptation to climate change.

Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02398-8

As someone who lives in a warm subtropical climate, I can assure you we don’t sit around all day eating ice cream. We also drink beer.

On a serious note, people mostly reach for the ice cream if they are not used to hot weather. If you actually live in a warm climate, you quickly learn that sugar makes you feel dehydrated. If you don’t drink lots of plain water you end up feeling sick.

In my experience people are far more likely to reach for high calorie foods like sugary sweets and pastries when the weather is really cold. That bagel stand in Waterloo Station got me every time when I lived in England, especially in winter. But maybe that’s just me.

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