The bitter sweet truth about the hidden sugars in your food
You've stopped putting sugar in your tea or on your cereal and you switched to diet drinks long ago so you don't eat much sugar right? Wrong! Yahoo nutritionist, Rachael Anne Hill explains why.
Sugars are carbohydrate and like all carbohydrates they are ultimately broken down into glucose which is what provides the body with energy. However, healthy eating guidelines recommend that we should limit our intake of simple sugars (the type extracted from sugar cane, beet or honey and added to manufactured foods) to a maximum of 10% of our overall calories (approximately 50g per day for the average woman). This is because too much refined sugar not only rots teeth and increases our intake of 'empty' calories (calories without many additional health benefiting nutrients) it also plays havoc with our ability to control blood sugar levels which can lead to obesity, heart disease and diabetes.
More recent research into the effects of sugar on health have found it also stimulates the production of free radicals in the body which can greatly accelerate the ageing process. Studies carried out at the University of London indicate that elevated blood sugars may also cause imbalances that affect collagen production resulting in premature ageing of the skin and even cataracts.
Cutting back on the sugar in our diets however, is often far easier said than done. That's because, despite the fact that sales of packet sugars are now the lowest they've been since 1975 we still manage to chomp our way through more than 19 teaspoons of the stuff a day - 30% more than we did 20 years ago.
Why? Because over 75% of the sugar we consume is hidden within the foods we eat. Sugar is one of the food industry's favourite ingredients. It is used to brown, preserve, thicken, aerate, stabilise, sweeten and bulk out our foods and is in everything from 'health bars' and yoghurt through to breads, processed meats, baked beans, sauces, dressings, drinks, crisps and even pizzas.
The problem is, it can be very difficult to decipher how much sugar is contained within the foods that we buy. For example, most people know that cola, at 35g or 8.5 teaspoons per can is high in sugars but how many are aware that many typical 'breakfast' or 'health' bars contain the same amount?
That's why I've put together this seven step guide to cutting back on the sugars in your food.
Step 1: Look at the nutritional information
Checking food labels may be laborious at first but you'll soon get a feel for the amounts of sugars hidden in your favourite foods — and you are likely to get some surprises too! Look for the 'Carbohydrates (of which sugars)' figure in the nutrition information panel on the label. 10g sugars or more per 100g is A LOT of sugar. 2g sugars or less per 100g is a little sugar. Anything between these two amounts is a moderate amount of sugar.
Step 2: Look at the ingredients list
Sometimes, it is difficult to decipher how much sugar is in a food as the label may only give an amount for 'Carbohydrates', and not for 'Carbohydrates (of which sugars)'. This means the figure will also include starchy carbohydrates. This doesn't tell you how much of the sugars come from intrinsic sources such as milk or fruit and how much comes from added sugars so to get a feel for whether the product is high in added sugars take a look at the ingredients list instead. Added sugars must be included here, and the ingredients must always be listed in order of largest quantities first. Therefore, if you see sugar (or any of the other names for sugar as listed below) itemised within the first few ingredients or listed several times within the list as a whole you'll know that the product is likely to be a high sugar food.
Sugar can be listed on food labels under various aliases. Here are the most common ones.
Sucrose, Fructose, Glucose, Dextrose, Galactose, Lactose, Maltose, Invert sugar, Raw sugar, Turbinado sugar, Brown sugar, Confectioner's sugar, Granulated sugar, Corn syrup, High-fructose corn syrup, Honey, Maple syrup, Molasses and Hydrolysed starch.
Step 3: Don't believe all you read
Don't be fooled by the term 'no added sugar' or 'unsweetened' claims on the packet. This only means that the manufacturers have not added sugar. It doesn't necessarily mean that the product itself is low in sugar or that the manufacturers haven't used concentrated high sugar fruit juices to sweeten the product instead.
Step 4: Go easy on 'diet foods'.
Ironically, the demand for lower fat foods has resulted in the amount of sugar added to foods being increased. That's because fat adds taste to a product so when it is taken out it has to be compensated for by adding something else and manufacturers invariably turn to sugar to fill that gap. As a result of this, many 'low fat', 'healthy eating' and 'slimming foods' can be some of the worst culprits where hidden sugars are concerned. For example, a bowl of Sainsbury's Be Good to Yourself muesli was found by Which? to have three times the sugar (16.45g compared with 5g for the standard equivalent) and all the supermarket 'healthier' brands of digestive biscuits contained more sugar than the regular varieties (some with as many as one and a half teaspoons of sugar per biscuit.)
Step 5: Get back in the kitchen
Eat more whole foods and prepare more of your meals and snacks yourself. That way you'll know exactly how much sugar is in the foods you are eating. Eat foods that are as close as possible to their natural state too. Snack on fresh fruits instead of processed cereal or health food bars, throw together a two minute salad or stir fry instead of reaching for a ready meal and drink freshly squeezed diluted juices, smoothies and water instead of soft or fizzy drinks.
Step 6: Start grazing
Avoid cravings for sugary foods brought about by low blood sugars by eating little and often throughout the day. Aim to eat at least two low GI meals a day and snack on fresh fruit, nuts, seeds and wholegrain breads or crackers.
Step 7: Go easy on artificial sweeteners
Although artificial sweeteners are generally regarded as safe and will help to reduce overall calorie intake they will not re-educate your pallet therefore many experts believe that their use is limited. There is also some evidence to suggest that people who have a high intake of artificial sweeteners actually take in more calories overall than those that don't. It is thought that this may be because sweeteners can upset normal appetite mechanisms. Research from the U.S. done on animals found that this could be due to the fact that sweeteners can suppress the production of serotonin — the brains 'happy hormone — which also works to keep hunger pangs at bay.
