It is rumoured that the mascot for Kellogg’s Frosties brand may be retired soon. There seems to be a growing awareness that sugar is not good for us. I was looking at the packaging on some processed food and saw that the recommended daily amount of sugar is 90 grams for a woman and 120 grams for a man. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that people eat no more than 10% of their calories as sugar which is roughly 50 grams or 12 teaspoons a day. A can of soda contains about 40 grams (10 teaspoons) so that would use most of your daily allowance! And, of course, there is the sugar that occurs naturally in fruit (fructose) and dairy (lactose).
Sugar plays a large role in both obesity and diabetes which are hazards of modern life so it is beneficial to try to limit the amount you eat.
There is worse to come: sugar is added to many processed foods that you would probably not guess. There’s sugar in tomato ketchup to counteract the natural acidity of tomatoes; in baked beans; in bread; in canned vegetables and soup to increase their shelf life; in low-fat yogurt, peanut butter, health bars and ready-made salad dressings. Even when you read the food labels, the presence of sugar is often disguised, being described as dextrose, modified starch, sucrose, molasses, etc., so it’s not easy!
What can we do? First, I think becoming more aware of hidden sugar means you have a better idea of how much you are actually eating. Second, try to prepare your food from scratch so that you know exactly what is going into your meals. It’s easy to start with plain yogurt (which may already have some sugar in it) and add fruit and perhaps a little honey. You are then more in control of how much sugar you are eating.