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UK

'Tis the season to be... carefree with your diet, apparently. The UK will spend over £20 billion on food and drink this Christmas. That includes the consumption of around 600 million units of alcohol. The season really does push UK sugar consumption to excessive levels. Festive favourites are packed with sugar, with an average of around 21 g in a mince pie, and 14 g in a single glass of mulled wine. Better make sure a new toothbrush is on your Christmas wish list!

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Germany

The German Christmas markets attract tourists from all over the world during the build up to Christmas and offer a plentiful selection of sweet treats to sample as you wander through the stalls, such as 'glühwein' (mulled wine), toffee apples and stollen. A lump of coal in your stocking is certainly not as terrifying as the German punishment for being bad. 'Krampus', a horned creature, will pay you a visit and give you a birch as a present.

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USA

Americans, on average, will consume over 7,000 calories on Christmas Day. The traditional boozy drink, eggnog, contributes a lot of that at around 400 calories per serving. However, calorie consumption has decreased in the USA in the last 10 years. This may be due to an increased consumption of diet drinks.

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Japan

Christmas dinner in Japan is rather unconventional. Rather than turkey, many people celebrate the holiday with dinner out at... KFC! This is largely down to a very successful advertising campaign by the American fast food chain in the 1970s which suggested that fried chicken was a traditional Christmas feast.