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Sinfully sweet, but unhealthy

Sugar delivers a high dose of calories

CALORIE DENSE Not so yummy for the health

I give you bitter pills in sugar coating. The pills are harmless: the poison is in the sugar.

— Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

The preference for sweet foods is universal. The biological explanation for this is that sweet foods are rich in carbohydrate, the primary fuel of the human body. Refined sugar, made from cane and beet, is next only to saturated fat as a health concern and focus of blame for the obesity epidemic sweeping the world.

Sugar kick

Sugar gets a bad name because it delivers a concentrated dose of calories in an age when everybody is eating too many calories. Sugary foods are mostly empty calories and they force healthier foods off the menu.

There is research to back this up. People getting by on sugary foods are less likely to eat fruit and vegetables, and their diet is poor in calcium, vitamins, iron, other nutrients and dietary fibre. In the West, angry parents are doing something about it. In schools across the US , soda, colas and other soft drinks are being taken off the canteen menu.

Sugary foods also induce an insatiable craving that blander (even if healthier) foods like fruit and vegetables cannot satisfy. The "sugar kick" is real. And a few years of these foods is enough to lay down the seeds of osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer and dental ailments.

About 1 tsp (4.2 gm) of refined sugar contains 16 Calorie. The maximum allowed limit of refined sugar in a 2000-Calorie daily diet is 10 tsp. 360 ml of a regular cola drink contains nearly 10 tsp of refined sugar. Bet you didn't know that, and for a very good reason: soft drink manufacturers do not label the refined sugar content of their drinks.

Packaged food manufacturers in India do not have to mention refined sugar content on the label.

Diabetics can relax. Having diabetes does not mean you cannot have a cup of tea with sugar added to it or even eat the occasional sweet. Effective blood glucose control depends upon overall diet control, exercise, and compliance with diabetic drug therapy and insulin regimens. Skimping on sugar in tea is not the solution.

RAJIV. M

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