Should we be worried about Sugar?

SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT SUGAR?

There was a time when we only consumed sugar in the form of fruit and vegetables, and only when they were in season.  Now sugar comes all year round, when we put a dressing on our salad, drink a fizzy drink, eat a bowl of cereal or open a jar of pasta, even when we bite into a slice of bread.

Research suggests that ‘added sugar’ is now the main source of sugar in our diets and in the UK we can easily average 20 teaspoons of added sugars a day.  The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that for optimum health, our daily intake should be kept at around 5% of our daily calorie intake which, for the average person is just 6 teaspoons.  To give you an idea of what this equates to, a can of coca-cola contains almost 10 teaspoons, a bowl of rice krispies 3 teaspoons and a tbsp of tomato ketchup 1 teaspoon, so you can see how it easily adds up.

Sugar comes in many forms.  There are those found naturally in the foods we eat, such as fructose, lactose, sucrose and glucose and then there are others, like high fructose corn syrup, which is a man-made ‘added sugar’ that is refined and added to food and drink to improve the taste.  Sugary drinks which usually contain this type of sugar have been linked to obesity and reduced insulin sensitivity and as a result increase our risk of developing health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease.  Man-made and added sugars are instantly absorbed by the digestive system which causes our blood sugar levels to spike.  Foods and beverages that raise our blood sugars in this way lower our body’s ability to repair organs from damage and kill critical stem cells from endothelial cells to bone and cardiac cells.  It is, therefore better that you take a low-glycaemic approach by minimising or avoiding altogether sweetened and processed foods that contain little or no fibre.

It’s a little confusing that these all come under the same category as ‘sugar’ because they absolutely are not all created equally and to categorise them as such means that we could miss out on the healthy foods that do contain natural sugars like fruit and honey.  Also, despite what you might have been told about complex carbohydrates, which include wholegrains, vegetables, seeds and nuts, you should know that they are not the enemy.  These foods are made up of sugar molecules which are broken down by digestion into glucose and used by every cell in your body to generate energy and fuel the brain.  Complex carbohydrates, because of their high fibre content, allow sugars to be slowly released into the bloodstream which helps with digestion and blood sugar control and also means you’ll feel fuller for longer and less likely to reach for any quick fix foods which are likely to contain refined sugars.

Fruit, vegetables and wholegrains are key components of a healthy and balanced diet and are consistently associated with positive health outcomes and should not be avoided for fear of overeating sugar or carbohydrates because along with them comes a host of beneficial components like fibre, vitamins, minerals, healthy bioactive molecules and disease-fighting compounds.

Therefore a diet that is high in added sugars is definitely not recommended - this can also lead to an overconsumption of calories which represents the single greatest health threat to individuals living on a typical western diet.  To make improvements yourself, take stock of what type of sugar might be contained in your every day intake, increase your plant-based foods and look up a list of low GI foods if you want to make positive steps towards reducing your sugar consumption.