According to experts, sugar is a "terribly harmful" spice, so everyone should limit their sugar intake as much as possible.
Sugar is terribly harmful to human health. Photo: iStock
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that to prevent obesity and tooth decay, adults and children should reduce their consumption of free sugars to less than 10% of daily energy, equivalent to 12 teaspoons of sugar.
WHO guidelines also recommend that individuals should further reduce their free sugar intake to less than 5% (6 teaspoons of sugar) of total energy intake.
According to experts, sugar is harmful to human health. This spice can cause a series of diseases for everyone from children to adults.
A series of diseases from sugar
According to Dr. Le Quang Hao, National Institute of Nutrition ( Hanoi ), "sugar is terribly harmful to human health if eaten in large quantities."
Therefore, people need to limit sweets, including natural sweeteners. For refined sweeteners such as cane sugar, beet sugar, corn sugar, people should limit as much as possible.
According to Dr. Hao, nowadays, all foods are over-refined, leading to the loss of micronutrients that promote energy metabolism and nutrient absorption in the body. This may explain why people today have many chronic diseases, especially diabetes.
“Sugar leads to metabolic disorders such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and brain-related diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s. For children, eating too much candy and sweets can lead to anorexia, tooth decay, and affect the child’s long-term health,” said the expert.
Specialist II Thai Van Hung, Deputy Head of Endocrinology Department, Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital (HCMC), also informed that many studies in children and adults have shown that reducing the consumption of sugary drinks can help control weight better.
In addition, medical experts also say that sugary drinks not only cause overweight and obesity, but also increase the risk of metabolic disorders such as increased risk of type 2 diabetes; high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, gout, and are related to reduced fertility...
At the same time, sugary drinks are also the main cause of tooth decay and dental diseases. Research on the status of permanent tooth decay in Vietnamese children in 17 provinces shows that: (colon is not appropriate) 20.9% of children aged 6-8; 43.7% of children aged 12-14; 36.3% of children aged 15-17 and 34.4% of children aged 9-11 have permanent tooth decay.
Sugary foods can be a cause of tooth decay in children. Photo: iStock
Children's risk of tooth decay increases by 22% if they consume sugary drinks daily. In particular, drinking soft drinks also increases the rate of tooth erosion by about 2.4 times due to the low pH and high sugar content of these drinks.
Being overweight or obese can also affect children’s mental health, making them susceptible to psychological pressure and low self-esteem in school and social environments. As a result, children’s education, personality development, and quality of life are also significantly affected.
Should we cut out sweet foods completely?
According to Dr. Hao, in principle, everyone needs to limit sugar. However, this is only a small part of limiting disease, the important thing is that we must eat a balanced diet.
“People should eat lots of green vegetables and ripe fruits because they contain a lot of magnesium, which helps metabolize sugar better in the body,” this expert encouraged.
As for fruits, the sugar in this food is fructose, which does not have an excessive impact on human health like refined sugar. The amount of sugar in fruits is also not high, so it is not harmful to blood sugar.
In daily meals, people should note to limit eating starches with low glycemic index such as white flour and white rice.
“Instead, people should eat whole wheat flour, seeds, brown rice, sweet potatoes... because of their low glycemic index,” Dr. Hao encouraged.
In addition, this expert also emphasized that diet sugar is a bad spice, especially for diabetic patients. This type of sugar only creates sweetness but has no nutrients.
Natural sweeteners such as honey and monk fruit, although not harmful to health, should be consumed in moderation.
In particular, according to Dr. Hao, cakes made from white flour and sugar are very bad for your health. However, eating cakes in small quantities and low frequency is not harmful to your health.
According to Zing
Source
Comment (0)