What is the main focus of the documentary That Sugar Film?

December 29, 2025 •

4 min read

In That Sugar Film, filmmaker Damon Gameau consumes an average Australian's daily sugar intake—40 teaspoons—from seemingly healthy, processed foods for 60 days. This experiment serves as the dramatic narrative framework for the documentary's deeper exploration of sugar's insidious health impacts.

Quick Summary

That Sugar Film focuses on director Damon Gameau's 60-day experiment consuming hidden sugars from 'healthy' foods, documenting the alarming physical and mental health decline that results.

Key Points

The Experiment: Director Damon Gameau documents the effects of consuming 40 teaspoons of sugar daily from foods perceived as 'healthy'.
Hidden Sugars: The film focuses on revealing the surprisingly high sugar content in products like low-fat yogurt, muesli bars, and juices.
Significant Health Decline: Gameau experiences rapid weight gain, fatty liver disease, mood swings, and increased heart disease risks, despite a constant calorie intake.
Food Industry Manipulation: The documentary exposes how food companies use 'bliss points' and aggressive marketing to promote addictive, high-sugar products.
Addictive Nature of Sugar: The film highlights how sugar affects the brain's reward centers similarly to cocaine, reinforcing cravings and addiction.
The Core Message: The overall message is a powerful endorsement of consuming real, unprocessed food and becoming more aware of what we eat.

Unveiling the Hidden Threat: The Core Experiment

At its heart, the 2014 documentary That Sugar Film is a first-person, scientific experiment performed by filmmaker Damon Gameau. Gameau, a healthy individual who had previously avoided refined sugar for three years, set out to demonstrate the effects of a high-sugar diet on the human body. The key element of his 60-day test was not to gorge on junk food and soft drinks, but to consume 40 teaspoons of sugar per day, the average amount consumed by many Australians, exclusively through foods commonly marketed as 'healthy'. This unique approach aimed to expose the vast quantity of hidden sugars lurking in everyday processed products, such as low-fat yogurt, muesli bars, cereals, and fruit juices.

The Alarming Health Consequences of Hidden Sugar

Over the course of the experiment, Gameau's health deteriorated rapidly, showcasing that not all calories are created equal. Despite maintaining a constant total calorie intake and regular exercise, his body underwent a shocking transformation. Within just 18 days, doctors discovered he had developed the early stages of fatty liver disease. This was attributed to the high fructose content of his new diet, which is primarily metabolized by the liver, leading to fat production. By the end of the 60 days, he had gained 8.5 kilograms, added 10cm to his waist circumference, and exhibited signs of pre-diabetes. The physical toll was matched by significant mental and emotional shifts, including lethargy, intense sugar cravings, mood swings, and poor concentration. These results starkly illustrated the dramatic, short-term damage a standard, high-sugar Western diet can inflict.

The Food Industry's Sweet Secrets

Beyond the personal experiment, the documentary expands its focus to the broader context of the food industry and its role in the global health crisis. Gameau examines the history of sugar's rise to prominence and the aggressive marketing tactics used by corporations to push sugary products, especially towards children. Experts in the film discuss the concept of the 'bliss point', which is the optimal amount of sugar in a product to make it maximally desirable and addictive to consumers. The film draws parallels between the tactics of the sugar industry and those historically used by the tobacco industry, including sponsoring scientific research to downplay or deflect attention from sugar's negative health effects.

Psychological and Societal Impacts

The film also delves into the psychological aspects of sugar consumption, revealing that sugar can activate the same reward centers in the brain as illicit drugs like cocaine, reinforcing addictive behaviors. It documents how the removal of fat from many processed foods led to the increased addition of sugar to maintain flavor, further confusing consumers. On a societal level, Gameau travels to a remote Aboriginal community in Australia and visits the U.S. to illustrate the severe health crises caused by the influx of Western, high-sugar foods. These segments personalize the issue, showing the devastating consequences for real people, such as a young man suffering from severe dental decay due to excessive soda consumption.

Hidden Sugars and Their Effects

To better understand the scale of the problem, consider the following list of common products exposed by the documentary as containing surprisingly high amounts of hidden sugar:

Flavored yogurt: Often low in fat, these can contain several teaspoons of added sugar per serving.
Cereals and muesli bars: Marketed as breakfast staples, they can be packed with sugar, sometimes more than candy.
Fruit juice and smoothies: Stripped of fiber, these are essentially sugar water that causes a rapid blood sugar spike.
Condiments: Items like BBQ sauce, ketchup, and sweet chili sauce can have more sugar per serving than chocolate sauce.
Low-fat salad dressings and ready meals: Sugar is frequently added to compensate for the reduction in fat and enhance flavor.

A Comparison of Dietary Experiments

To contextualize That Sugar Film, it's helpful to compare it to another influential documentary, Super Size Me. While both use a filmmaker as a human guinea pig, their focus differs significantly:


Feature	That Sugar Film	Super Size Me
Dietary Focus	Hidden sugars in seemingly 'healthy' processed foods.	Fast food (specifically McDonald's).
Primary Goal	Expose the health impacts of added sugar and the food industry's tactics.	Highlight the dangers of consuming fast food exclusively.
Key Finding	Hidden sugars cause rapid health decline, irrespective of calorie load.	Fast food leads to weight gain and serious health problems over a short period.
Experiment Rules	Constant calorie count, regular exercise, no obvious junk food.	Eat only McDonald's, must try all menu items at least once, 'Super Size' when offered.
Broader Theme	Industry manipulation and the systemic problem of processed food.	The fast food industry's role in obesity.

Conclusion: Eat Real Food

The main focus of That Sugar Film is to reveal the devastating impact of hidden sugars in the modern diet and the manipulative practices of the food industry that perpetuate this issue. Through Gameau's personal, eye-opening experiment and his exploration of broader societal issues, the documentary serves as a powerful wake-up call to consumers. The ultimate message is a simple, yet profound one: eat real, unprocessed food whenever possible. By becoming more aware of what we consume and challenging the 'health halo' of many packaged goods, individuals can make more informed choices for their own well-being and that of their families.

An excellent resource for learning more about the link between diet, weight, and health is the World Cancer Research Fund International, which provides insights into curbing global sugar consumption.

Frequently Asked Questions

The key takeaway is that hidden sugars in processed foods—even those marketed as healthy—can cause serious health problems, including weight gain and fatty liver disease, regardless of total calorie intake.

No, Damon Gameau intentionally avoided typical junk food like soft drinks, chocolate, and candy. He sourced his 40 teaspoons of daily sugar from seemingly healthy, processed products such as fruit juice, low-fat yogurt, and cereals.

During his experiment, Gameau gained 8.5 kilograms, developed fatty liver disease within 18 days, and suffered from lethargy, mood swings, and a noticeable increase in belly fat.

By maintaining the same total calorie intake and exercise level as before, Gameau showed that a diet high in sugar calories had drastically different and more negative effects on his body than his previous, lower-sugar diet.

The film does not necessarily advocate for a completely sugar-free diet but rather for a reduction in added sugar intake. It encourages consumers to be aware of how much sugar is in their food and to prioritize whole foods over highly processed options.

The documentary highlights the food industry's manipulative marketing tactics, including adding sugar to low-fat products to improve taste and achieving a 'bliss point' that makes food more addictive.

The film was created to be fun and accessible, with a target audience that includes parents, families, and teenagers, aiming to educate a broad public about the dangers of excessive sugar consumption.