Sugar: are we sweet enough?
Sugar: are we sweet enough?
SUGAR!! That was a ‘polite swear word’ at school. And now it has become almost a swear word in the media – stirring up lots of controversy and concern. Some people declare it’s going to kill us all. Others are wary of being a killjoy! Whom do we believe?
Sugar was in the news just last month, when Simon Stevens, the NHS chief executive, announced a new ‘sugar tax’ in the NHS. Hospital vending machines will charge extra for high-sugar foods, so as to dissuade staff, patients and visitors from buying them. Stevens said this was to protect not just the wellbeing of the country, but also the NHS, which is struggling to stem our tide of health problems associated with sugar.
So – what is the fuss about sugar, and why exactly might it be bad for us?
Definitions
Well – let’s quickly define ‘sugar’ first of all.
As you may know, there are naturally occurring sugars present in most fruits and vegetables. So carrots contain glucose and fructose, which are ‘single’, or ‘monosaccharide’ sugars, with 4.74g of sugars altogether per 100g. But when we eat carrots, these sugars are present along with vitamins and minerals that contribute to the body’s nutrition, and with fibre, which helps prevent the sugars being absorbed too quickly.
What’s at the centre of the sugar controversy, however, is ‘free sugar’. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines this as not just part of a whole fruit or vegetable, but added to foods as an extra. These ‘free sugars’ can be monosaccharides like glucose or fructose, or ‘disaccharide’ double sugars like maltose (malt extract) or sucrose (table sugar). On food packaging labels, free sugars can sound very natural, like corn syrup, or agave nectar, or cane sugar – in fact there are literally dozens of names for sugar out there! Another way we consume free sugars is in familiar items like honey, fruit juices and dried fruit.
Last year, WHO created new guidelines on how much ‘free sugar’ we should be eating. They determined that it should make up less than 5% of total energy intake, or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day. To put this into perspective, one tablespoon of tomato ketchup gives you a teaspoon of sugar – one-sixth of your day’s ration – and one can of sugary fizzy drink gives you ten teaspoons – way over the limit!
Why limit sugar?
So – why the WHO guidelines? Why the NHS tax? What is so bad about sugar? Haven’t we been eating it for centuries?
It’s important to remember that sugar only become cheap in the last fifty years or so. It is now being added not just to our drinks and ketchup, but also to things we don’t even think of as sugary, such as breads, cold meats, ready-made salads, salad dressings and so on. The amount of ‘free sugar’ we are all eating is more than ever before, and its impact is serious.
Increased intake of sugars brings weight gain. There is now solid evidence to show that reducing sugary drink consumption in the population would definitely reduce the prevalence of obesity – that is, the state of being very overweight. The NHS cautions that obesity can lead to cancers such as breast cancer and bowel cancer. Other diseases related to high sugar consumption are type 2 diabetes (where the body becomes less able to manage blood sugar levels and insulin has to be injected), and ‘metabolic syndrome’, a hormonal dysfunction often underlying diabetes, as well as being a precursor to heart and liver disease.
But for those who aren’t feeling overweight or ill – why should they worry about sugar?
Everyday disruption
Sugar can also interfere with our nutrients and hormones. Spikes in blood sugar, which occur most strongly when we eat ‘free sugars’, trigger high levels of the stress hormone, cortisol. Too much cortisol upsets the balance of other hormones in the body, as well as tiring out the adrenal system. Thus, too much sugar can be a culprit in hormonal issues such as PCOS as well as in fatigue problems.
Acting as an ‘anti-nutrient’, sugar can deplete the body of crucial vitamins and minerals. For example, we need B vitamins and magnesium to regulate good mood and peace of mind, but eating free sugars also drains them. The irony is that we often reach for sugar when we’re stressed. Sugar can also provoke or worsen inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis.
As if all this weren’t enough, sugar is also very addictive. The more we eat it, the more we want it! And many of us grow up receiving sugary food as a reward for good behaviour, or as a comfort. No wonder we so often want sugary food after a hard day at work, or to console ourselves.
What to do?
Well, no one wants to be a killjoy. But we can do our bodies a kindness by reducing the sugary load from our foods.
Some things to reduce or give up would be:
– sugary drinks, cordials and fruit juices
– white breads, pastas, crackers
– dried fruit, sweets, and cereals
Some things to take up instead could be:
– herbal teas you like (experiment: some can be naturally sweet and very tasty!)
– seed and nut based foods, home-made soups and stews
– whole fruits eaten with protein, like frozen berries whipped up with live yoghurt, or almonds eaten with an apple.
So – if you’ve given up sugar for Lent, well done! Keep up the good work! You will notice the changes more and more as you keep going. Or, if you haven’t done anything yet for Lent – better late than never – why not?! Perhaps you could try reducing the sugars you eat and putting the ‘chocolate money’ towards something else. You are definitely sweet enough!
Finally – here are two useful resources on sugar – one more informative, set up by a group of science researchers at the University of California in San Francisco, the other more practical – set up by an Australian journalist who gave up sugar as an experiment and never looked back.
Next month we’ll look at how to make delicious sweet treats to celebrate Easter, but without the heavy sugar load. If you have any recipe ideas you’d like to share – do drop me an email at nutrition@emmamaitland-carew.co.uk.
As well as following the links in the blog, you can read more about sugar in these sources:
Holford, P., 2010. Say No To Arthritis: The proven drug free guide to preventing and relieving arthritis, Hachette UK.
Holford, P., 2009. The Optimum Nutrition Bible, London: Hachette.
Hu, F.B., 2013. Resolved: there is sufficient scientific evidence that decreasing sugar-sweetened beverage consumption will reduce the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related diseases. Obesity Reviews: An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 14(8), pp.606–619.
Morenga, L.T., Mallard, S. & Mann, J., 2013. Dietary sugars and body weight: systematic review and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials and cohort studies. BMJ, 346, p.e7492.
Thomas, D. & Elliott, E.J., 2009. Low glycaemic index, or low glycaemic load, diets for diabetes mellitus. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, (1), p.CD006296.
WHO, 2015. WHO calls on countries to reduce sugars intake among adults and children. WHO. Available at: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en.
Yang, Q., 2010. Gain weight by ‘going diet?’ Artificial sweeteners and the neurobiology of sugar cravings. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 83(2), pp.101–108.
