Many of us are becoming more cautious about what we eat by controlling our sugar and fat intake – we eat less sugary snacks than before and are changing to a healthier lifestyle.
UK studies show the average Brit now consumes 13g of sugar daily, from 22g in 2007. However, this still adds up to 91g of sugar, or 22 teaspoons, per week.
Cutting down on sugary foods is a positive trend, but does this really mean that we are reducing our sugar intake?
Studies show that we are swapping the obvious sugary foods, such as fizzy drinks, with what we think are healthier, such as smoothies, milkshakes and fruit juices.
Although these alternatives may be fat-free, they still contain a lot of sugar.
For example, some orange juices contain about 30g of sugar per serving, almost the same as a can of cola.
Other examples include a popular smoothie brand, which has about 26g (six teaspoons) of sugar per bottle, digestive biscuits have 2.5g of sugar each, while 200g of canned tomato soup and baked beans contains 9.8g and 10g respectively.
It will shock most of us to hear that Ribena has as much sugar as 13 Oreo cookies. Cereals and ketchup have a considerable amount per serving too.
Many might wonder why a bottled smoothie contains such a high amount of sugar if it consists purely of fruit, part of our five-a-day routine.
The answer is because these shop-bought smoothies are supplemented with extra apple, lemon and grape extracts, which are mainly sugars. They also tend to be lower in fibre, as this is removed during factory processing, and are produced from a ‘concentrate’, rather than a whole fruit.
Many are tyring to opt for natural alternatives such as honey and maple syrup, which are actually liquid sugars. Other low-fat food, including yoghurts, spreads and sauces, could actually contain more sugars than their usual ‘fatty’ versions.
A Harvard sudy showed that glucose stimulates the reward and craving centre in our brain, the same centre that heroin and cocaine stimulate. This means we tend to become addicted to sugary foods.
The recommended daily amount of sugar is no more than 90g for women and 120g for men, as stated by the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA).
Despite the change in lifestyle, research shows that the average person still consumes 96.5g of sugar daily (both natural and added sugars) – over the Recommended Dietary Allowance’s maximum limit. Doctors are declaring this threshold is now outdated, too high and strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes.
But what exactly is diabetes and how does it come about? Most of the sugar and carbohydrates we eat are broken down and metabolised to glucose and other monosaccharides (the building blocks of sugar) during digestion, and are then absorbed into our bloodstream.
It will shock most of us to hear that Ribena has as much sugar as 13 Oreo cookies
This glucose should be kept at a constant level (100mg/dL) using the hormones insulin (which lowers sugar level) and glucagon (which increases sugar level), both produced by the pancreas.
Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease in which the person has high amounts of blood glucose levels (hyperglycaemia). One cause is because the body’s pancreas is unable to produce insulin, such as in type 1 diabetes. In this case, the patient is required to take daily insulin injections.
In type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form and affects 90 per cent of all Maltese diabetic patients, the body’s cells are unable to respond to insulin and the pancreas produces a low level.
Another less common type is gestational diabetes, which develops in women during pregnancy. Uncontrolled, it can cause the unborn baby to become oversized, leading to childbirth problems.
In all types of diabetes, the body’s cells are unable to take up glucose and metabolise it for energy production and cell growth. Thus, glucose remains circulating in the blood, so that there is high blood glucose on testing.
It is, therefore, even more vital for people suffering from diabetes to keep an eye out for the sugar content of their food. Particular attention should be given to potentially misleading low-fat ‘healthy’ foods, which have high sugar content.
In light of all this, one should look at products’ nutritional labels carefully and check both fat the sugar content per serving.
Such precautions are especially necessary with low-fat foods, as the food industry makes its products taste better by adding more sugar.
Sugar is addictive after all, and a very difficult habit to break.