The daily amount of sugar recommended according to the latest report of the World Health Organization (WHO) is below 10 percent of the total energy (caloric expenditure) of our diet , although the ideal is not to exceed 5 percent . “To have a clearer reference, it would be advisable not to take more than 50 grams of simple sugars a day, that is, about 12 tablespoons of coffee,” explains Carmen Escalada, nutritionist at the European Medical Institute for Obesity (IMEO).
In the case of children, it proposes “an intake of 37 grams a day for a diet of 1,700 calories ” although the most important thing is “to adapt the percentage to the energy expenditure of each person”. At this point, Modesta Cassinello, pharmacist and graduate in Nutrition from the University of Granada , considers it essential not to accustom the little ones to very sweet flavors and to bet on foods with high nutritional value. For example, “a caramel only contains sugar and dyes while a piece of fruit has sugar but also vitamins , minerals , fiber and antioxidants, ” he points out. “We mustadapt to the real taste of food because the industry has accustomed us to very marked and artificial aromas that, in the end, become addictive and, when we eat fruit that contains sugar, we do not perceive it as sweet, ”adds Escalada.
Tips for identifying foods with the most added sugar
- Read the labels well. “Sugar is present in many ways: glucose , fructose, syrup, syrup, caramel, dextrose, molasses, syrup, honey or cane juicesand all of them would add up to that percentage that we cannot beat,” says the IMEO specialist. . Therefore, the different ways in which added sugar appears in food must be recognized in order to identify it. At this point, Cassinello insists on reading the list of ingredients well since they sometimes appear as carbohydrates of which sugars are … x grams .
- The order of the ingredients. “It is also important to see the list of ingredients because the industry is obliged to have their labels appear in decreasing order, therefore, if sugar (in any of its forms) is in the first places, it means that said product has a high concentration ”, details Escalada.
- Foods with more sugar. Both experts agree that processed products such as cereal bars, sauces, artificial gazpachos, dairy desserts and salty and sweet snacks are the ones that contain the most added sugars. To this list Escalada adds “baby foods like my first yogurt or cocoafor children that contain in 99 percent of the cases many additives to make them more addictive.”
- Watch out for drinks. Prepared juices, shakes and energy drinks for athletesinclude many sugars according to Cassinello. “Be careful with the latter, because many times the smallest ingest them without practicing physical activity,” he says.
- Foods with less sugar. In general, fresh products have the least added sugar. In this group, Escalada makes a distinction: “Meat, fish and eggs do not contain any type of simple sugar in their composition, while others such as fruit, vegetables and dairy products do, but naturally.”
- And the fruit , does it have too much sugar? Sometimes fructose is seen as an enemy in weight loss dietsand, although it is a sugar that “counts in the total percentage that we must ingest per day, it provides other essential nutrients,” said Escalada.
What about white sugar and sweeteners?
Aside from added sugar in its different forms, sucrose and other sweeteners also have a health risk: “ Just because it is calorie-free does not mean it is beneficial,” says Escalada. This expert advises to avoid or totally dispense with these types of products but keep foods such as fruit, vegetables and dairy products that contain sugar naturally.
Lastly, Cassinello is committed to minimizing both sweeteners and processed products so that they do not become a daily habit. In addition, it proposes healthy alternatives such as “substituting breakfast cereals for toast bread.”
