Actor Damon Gameau is making his debut as a feature filmmaker and documentarian in a new film starring himself as he participates in a 60 day experiment, in a similar fashion of the film Super Size Me, to test the effect of sugar on his body. The twist is that the sugar he consumes throughout the experiment isn’t coming from soda’s, fast foods, or candy bars, it’s coming from packaged goods that advertise themselves as so-called “health food.”
The motivation for making That Sugar Film comes three years after Gameau decided to eliminate refined sugar from his diet entirely. This meant that at the beginning of the film, his body was basically a clean slate to test these effects on. The average American consumes more than 126 grams of sugar per day, which is roughly 31 teaspoons, and more than twice what the World Health Organization recommends for daily intake. For this experiment, Gameau consumed the average sugar intake for Australians, which is 40 teaspoons of sugar a day.
To control for other factors, he maintained the same level of physical exercise and ate the same number of calories he had consumed prior to starting the experiment. As Gameau explains, the calories might be the same number on the plate, but “once they enter the body they behave very differently metabolically, and trigger different hormones that affect appetite and all sorts of things.” He ate mostly “health food” including cereal, smoothies, breakfast bars, juices, and low-fat yogurt. He purposely chose products that advertise themselves for their health benefits, such as being packed with vitamins or low in fat.
“If I’d gone and consumed Mars bars and Cokes the whole time I think we all would know I’d have had ill effects. We get that,” Gameau says. “Where people have been duped is around the lack of integrity and accountability in labelling. You see some of these products in the supermarket with a sunset on them. Or words like Mother Nature and a bee and a flower or something. And people believe it.”
The results: liver disease, 4 inches of visceral fat around his organs, 18 extra pounds, mood swings, and (according to the doctors he consulted with) early signs of what could lead to cardiovascular problems. After just twelve days he put on his first 5 pounds, and just 18 days in is when he started to develop symptoms of fatty liver disease.
Though his concerns are quite seriously, That Sugar Film tries to deliver it’s message is a fun, accessible way. There are plenty of playful special-effects, animated clips, and jokes to induce laughter. Experts even deliver their insights and expertise within these surreal animations.
The products he consumes in the film aren’t blurred or covered. They’re recognizable brands including Up & Go, Big M, Prima, Sanitarium, Heinz, Tip Top, Fruche, and Kellogg’s. The had a team of lawyers helping them make sure they weren’t stretching or exaggerating anything, just interpreting the label for viewers, which anyone conceivably could do themselves by going to a local health food store and purchasing the same items. The point he wants to drive home is that all the information the public needs to pay attention to is right on the label, if you’re willing to pay attention.
He concludes by reminding consumers that they are in control of the product they buy, so they essentially have all the power they need to demand change. “We’ve been led to believe these companies have all these powers and are very persuasive in their advertising,” Gameau says. “But at the end of the day you make that movement from your hand to your mouth and you can override all the signals they are giving you.”
New guidelines from the World Health Organization suggest that people cut their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10 percent of their overall calories. The best way to do that? Eat fresh, unprocessed foods that you cook or prepare yourself. That way you have total control over how much sugar goes into your system.
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