The existence of sweets is always a temptation for us. The World Health Organization (WHO) has investigated the causes of death in 23 countries, and concluded that sugar addiction is more harmful than smoking, and that long-term consumption of sugary foods will shorten a person's life expectancy significantly, and put forward the slogan "Quit Sugar". But in recent years, Chinese people's consumption of sugar has remained high, and the harm of eating sugar has not been recognized by more people.
It's hard to say no to sugar at all, so how much sugar should we eat in our daily lives and what kind of sugar is healthier?
It's best not to eat more than 40 grams a day
The concept of "sugar" has a broad and narrow meaning. Broad sugar refers to a variety of digestible carbohydrates, including sweetened sugar and no sweet starch; narrow sugar refers to refined sugar and food, beverage processing commonly used in syrup. Sugar's harmful effects on the human body are mainly the latter.
Almost all sweet foods contain a lot of sweeteners made from white sugar or syrup. So, for some children and young women who like to eat desserts, cookies, snacks and drinks, it is common for them to consume more than 100 grams of white sugar a day. But nutritionists recommend a total daily intake of about 30 to 40 grams of white sugar, or no more than 10 percent of your total daily carbohydrate intake.
What is the concept of 30-40 grams of white sugar? Among the sweets that people often eat, a large spoonful of jam contains about 15 grams of sugar, a can of Coke contains about 37 grams of sugar, 3 small pieces of chocolate contain about 9 grams of sugar, 1 egg roll ice cream contains about 10 grams of sugar, and a few cookies contain about 10 grams of sugar....... If you don't pay attention, the 30-40 grams of sugar limit is very easy to break.
Eating too much sugar can lead to bone fractures
Refined white sugar is very pure, reaching more than 99 percent, which means it contains almost no other nutrients, only a lot of energy. Eat sweets more, people will be too much energy intake and produce a sense of satiety, affecting the other rich in protein, vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber food intake. In the long run, it will lead to nutritional deficiency, developmental disorders, obesity and other diseases.
On the other hand, the metabolism of white sugar in the body needs to consume a variety of vitamins and minerals, therefore, often eat sugar will cause vitamin deficiency, calcium deficiency, potassium deficiency and other nutritional problems. Japanese nutritionists believe that children eat too many sweets is an important reason for the increase in the rate of fractures; American nutritionists also pointed out that children who love sweets have a higher rate of fractures.
Nutritional research also found that, although eating sugar may not directly lead to diabetes, but long-term consumption of large quantities of sweets will make insulin secretion, carbohydrate and fat metabolism disorders, caused by the body's internal environmental disorders, and thus promote a variety of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular and cerebral vascular diseases, diabetes, obesity, senile cataracts, dental caries, nearsightedness, rickets occurs. Eating sweets will also make the human blood tends to acidic, not conducive to blood circulation, and weaken the immune system's defense function.
Sweetness and drug addiction have the same physiological reaction
Craving sweets may also cause physical and psychological dependence. According to research, sweetness is the first flavor that human beings accept and pursue after birth, and liking sweets is an instinctive response of human beings.
Medical experiments have proved that, in a sense, sweets containing a lot of white sugar have the same effect on the brain as drugs. If animals are allowed to habitually consume sweets, it stimulates the production of opioids in their brains, making them feel happy. Once the supply of sweets is stopped, they become distressed, irritable, and the chemicals in their brains are thrown out of balance. This phenomenon is very similar to the reaction to drug addiction.
When to Eat Sugar
Although eating sweets in large quantities can be harmful, there are some health benefits when consumed in small amounts and at the right time. For example, a small amount of sugar can be an emergency supplement when blood sugar levels drop. Hypoglycemic patients will feel black eyes and limbs when hungry, the best way is to drink a glass of sugar water immediately. Not good to eat breakfast people, near noon often feel dizzy, attention can not focus, thinking ability to decline, this time if you eat some sweets, you can quickly restore brain function.
In addition, sports medicine research has confirmed that athletes in the strenuous exercise before if supplemented with a small amount of sugary drinks, can help them to improve sports performance; after the exercise in a timely manner to replenish sugar, can eliminate fatigue. Ordinary people also benefit if they eat small amounts of sugar before bathing, when they are hungry, and when they need to improve their concentration.
Eating sugar for better health
What kind of sugar you eat is optional, but if you want to find a balance between sweetness and health, you'd better eat the following kinds of sugar:
Brown sugar. It is also called "black sugar", "brown sugar", contains more iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium and other minerals, has a high nutritional value, and is conducive to the acid-base balance in the body. Chinese medicine believes that brown sugar has the effect of blood circulation, warming and dispersing cold. But brown sugar is warm, often on fire, dry mouth people should eat less.
Oligosaccharide. Such as oligofructose, oligolactose, oligoisomaltose. Their calories are very low, with "adjust the ecological balance" role, some are known as "bifidus factor", can promote the growth of beneficial bacteria in the body, inhibit the proliferation of intestinal pathogenic bacteria and spoilage bacteria.
Sugar alcohol sweeteners. Including xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol, maltitol, sweetness is slightly lower than sugar. They are low energy, do not cause dental caries, do not raise blood sugar, belong to the healthy sweeteners. But the daily consumption of the best not more than 20 grams, because they will promote intestinal peristalsis, excessive consumption can cause mild diarrhea.