Sugar - Friend or Foe?

Tooth Decay

Without any doubt at all, sugar causes tooth decay and it is a source of 'empty' calories, ie calories with no nutritional benefits. It makes sense, therefore, to cut it out when we can. Because it is included in so many savoury as well as sweet foods, we need to read the nutritional labels on packs of food before buying them.

Sugar can fly false colours, though, and may be disguised under other names. It can be called:

*sucrose - the type of sugar found in domestic use for coffee and general sweetening. It usually comes from sugar cane or sugar beet.

*fructose is associated with the sugars found in fruit and vegetables

*glucose - the human body converts sugars into glucose

*lactose - found in milk

If you see these names on food labels, remember they all mean the product contains sugar and bear this in mind when deciding whether to eat it or how much you choose to eat.

Picture above: Copyright © Dozenist - GNFD license

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You see 'No added sugar' on a label and you think "Great, I can eat (or drink) this with impunity."

Unfortunately this label doesn't necessarily mean that the food is low in sugar. It might be naturally high in sugar. Incidentally, many people think that honey is a healthy alternative to processed sugar. This may or may not be true but what must not be overlooked is that it adds extra calories to food in the same way as ordinary sugar does.

Another great trick that manufacturers try on food labels is "50% less sugar" (or whatever percentage they choose). Again it doesn't always mean the product is low in sugar. If a portion of food, according to the label, still contains 30 grams (g) that would be a third of your 'Guidelines Daily Amount' (GDA).

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Sugar is not the real culprit in the battle of the bulge. Yes, like alcohol, it does add 'empty' calories to the diet but the real cause of obesity is eating more calories than the body requires.

Calories are the fuel that keeps are bodies running. If we don't eat enough calories to sustain our activities and bodily functions, we will lose weight. This is what happens in a famine or when somebody suffers from anorexia.

If we eat more calories than we require, we will store those extra calories as fat - nature's way of practising 'waste not, want not'. We have a store of calories in case we encounter a famine situation and can use it to avoid starving to death.

It doesn't make any difference whether these excess calories come from sugar, fat, protein or carbohydrates. Too many calories equal added body weight, it's as simple as that for most people. Consuming sugary food is a particularly easy way to overeat.

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Perhaps the greatest problem with sugary food is that we are programmed to like it. There is even evidence to suggest that we can become addicted to it in the same way as cocaine, heroin or other drug.

Three researchers from Department of Psychology, Princeton University (Avena, Rada and Hoebel) published research in 2007 describing their work on the addictive qualities of sugar.

They said:
"Recent behavioral tests in rats further back the idea of an overlap between sweets and drugs. Drug addiction often includes three steps. A person will increase his intake of the drug, experience withdrawal symptoms when access to the drug is cut off and then face an urge to relapse back into drug use. Rats on sugar have similar experiences. Researchers withheld food for 12 hours and then gave rats food plus sugar water. This created a cycle of binging where the animals increased their daily sugar intake until it doubled."