Sugar: Sweet Killer

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    Two days ago, I saw a classmate who had just returned from studying abroad. Since I hadn't seen him for five years, I hardly recognized him when I first met him. The whole body was a big circle fatter than before. During the chat, I deliberately learned about his diet. He said that his diet structure was obviously different from that in China after going abroad, and he himself liked to eat sweets. Since he found that his body had changed, he also began to insist on swimming and other sports, but the effect was still not obvious, so he was very distressed. Finally, my advice to him is: eat less and move more. Especially when choosing snacks, try not to eat a lot of sweet food, because loving sweet food directly leads to excessive energy intake, which is a big problem.

 

    The sugar in life

 

    Glucose, sucrose, fructose, etc. are all common sugars in our life, and also the source of sugar on our table. Fruits and vegetables are rich in fructose, while lactose is a natural sugar found in milk. The sweet taste can make people happy. Because of this, we like to add some sugar to our diet. For example, the granulated sugar we often eat, the rock sugar we use to make tea, and the soft white sugar we use for flavoring, including brown sugar and honey, which are often regarded as supplements, fruit sugar and milk sugar in children's snacks, are the embodiment of sugar in our lives.

Not all sugar has a sweet taste, and not all sugar has a sweet taste. There is 4% lactose in milk, and lactose is basically not sweet; Medical glycerin is sweet, but not sugar. The most common tasteless sugar in life is the starch in rice.

So why should we eat sugar in our diet? Its main function is to provide heat energy. Each gram of glucose is oxidized in the human body to produce 4 kcal of energy, and about 70% of the energy needed by the human body is provided by sugar. In addition, sugar is also an important substance to constitute tissues and protect liver function. So we can't do without sugar.

 

    Development History of Sugar Industry in China ^[1]

 

    As one of the most basic cooking condiments in China, sugar has a long history of thousands of years.

 

    Maltose was the first sugar used in China before the Qin Dynasty. Maltose was originally called maltose. This maltose, according to Liu Xi's "Shi Ming" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, is a sticky semi fluid, and its color is black. In ancient times, soft candy was usually made by boiling malt or malt with rice, so it was called maltose. About to the Han Dynasty, maltose was widely boiled and used among the people. The word "sugar" was also first seen in Dialect. In the Tang Dynasty, maltose was also called gum gum. It is named after maltose, which is sticky. Maltose was originally only used as sugar. Later, the custom of pasting the mouth of the kitchen god with gum gum came into being among the people. The purpose was to paste the mouth of the kitchen god with gum gum gum, and not to speak ill of the house owner in front of the god. Later, it was used for cooking and seasoning.

 

    Sugar production from sugarcane is a little late in China. About the Spring and Autumn Period, China began to plant sugarcane. During the Three Kingdoms period, sugar was a valuable tribute and was popular in the court. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, it was possible to produce crystalline sucrose. During the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the quality of sugar produced in the Central Plains also exceeded that of India and the Western Regions. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, candy products with sugar as raw material also increased day by day and occupied the market. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the sugar industry had a new development. According to Song Yingxing, a scientist in the Ming Dynasty, in his book "Tiangong Kaiwu", sugar making technology, such as pressing, boiling and crystallization, has made progress.

 

    In short, the development of sugar industry has not only laid the foundation for the development of Chinese culinary art, but also enriched people's daily life.

 

    How much refined sugar should I eat every day?

 

    With the continuous development of China's economy, the demand for sugar consumption by residents is expanding, and the per capita sugar consumption level is increasing year by year. At present, China has become the world's third largest sugar consumer after India and the European Union, and still maintains a steady growth trend. In 2012, China's per capita sugar consumption was about 10.03kg/person, which is the global average（ 24 kg/person), lower than the average level of Asian countries (12.75 kg/person) ^【2】

 

    However, from the nutritional point of view, refined sugar should not provide energy for the human body more than 10% of the total energy intake in the whole day. Therefore, it is recommended that the daily intake of refined sugar should be less than 25g and not more than 50g at most. ^【3】 If you drink a 500ml sugary drink, the sugar intake must exceed 50g. In addition, many refined sugars are also hidden in dairy desserts, dairy products (ice cream, sugary yogurt), sweets, cakes, biscuits and breakfast cereals. ^【4】

 

    Therefore, it is suggested that we form the habit of reading food labels when buying food. Many food packages are marked with sugar (or carbohydrate) content in grams. We can judge the sugar content by simple conversion, for example, a teaspoon of refined sugar is 4g, and a piece of sugar is 4.5g.

 

    Too much sugar equals chronic suicide

 

    The World Health Organization once pointed out: "The average life span of people who have been addicted to high sugar food for a long time is 10 to 20 years shorter than that of people who have a normal diet." More and more scientific evidence shows that it doesn't matter to eat only a little sugar, but consuming a lot of sugar is no different from chronic suicide.

 

1. Causing caries

 

    There are many bacteria in our mouth. If we often take a large amount of sugar food, these bacteria will decompose and ferment the residual sugar in our mouth. This process will produce a certain amount of acid, which will erode our teeth. Many children's dental caries are caused by their love of sweets. So brush or rinse your teeth in time after eating sweets to avoid caries.

 

2. Cause obesity

 

    After being digested and absorbed by the human body, some of the sugar food is consumed for energy supply, and the other part is stored in muscle and liver as glycogen. In addition to meeting the above two needs, a large amount of remaining carbohydrates will be converted into fat in the body. Human and animal experiments also show that fructose syrup containing a large amount of fructose can cause excessive fat precipitation. In addition, sugar can also promote our eating by acting on the nervous system, inhibiting the disappearance of hunger. ^【5】 Therefore, it is easy to cause obesity if you eat a lot of foods with high carbohydrate content for a long time. If we eat 5 more sweets every day, it is equivalent to taking in nearly 100 kilocalories of extra calories, and the weight can increase by 100 grams per week. ^【6】

 

3. Induced hypertension

 

    A survey of sugary drinks in the United States shows that one can of sweet drinks a day is 20% more likely to suffer from diabetes than no sweet drinks, and two cans a day is 50% more likely to suffer from diabetes. ^【7】 In recent years, the increase in the number of diabetic patients is closely related to the large consumption of sweet drinks and the increasing intake of sugar year by year. Nutritionists found that eating sugar may not directly lead to diabetes, but long-term consumption of a large number of sweets will lead to excessive insulin secretion and carbohydrate metabolism disorder, which will lead to environmental disorders in the human body, and then lead to diabetes. ^【6】

 

4. Cause osteoporosis

 

    The metabolism of sugar food in the body needs to consume a variety of vitamins and minerals. Therefore, frequent consumption of sugar will cause nutritional problems such as vitamin deficiency and calcium deficiency. When the body is in the state of high glucose for a long time, the phenomenon of urine sugar will occur. While sugar is excreted with urine, water-soluble vitamin B1 and calcium ions in the blood will also be excreted too much. Research shows that the urinary excretion of vitamin B1 in patients with type II diabetes is 16 times more than that in normal people. ^【8】 Vitamin B1 is a necessary substance for sugar to transform energy in the body. If vitamin B1 is insufficient, it will greatly reduce the activity of nerves and muscles, which will easily lead to falls and fractures. The loss of calcium ions in the blood will cause calcium in the bone to dissolve into the blood continuously, and eventually lead to osteoporosis. ^【6】

 

5. Easy to get kidney stones

 

    As we all know, drinking plain water can prevent kidney stones, but if more sugar is put into plain water, drinking sugar water will promote the occurrence of kidney stones. As mentioned earlier, the higher the body sugar content, the more nutrients such as sugar and calcium will be lost with urine. Studies have shown that whether normal people or stone patients eat 100 grams of sucrose and check their urine 2 hours later, the concentration of calcium and oxalic acid in urine has increased. The higher the calcium content in the urine, the greater the chance that they meet with oxalic acid to form sediment, and then it is easy to get kidney stones. It is not difficult to understand why many people suffer from kidney stones and calcium deficiency at the same time. ^【9】

 

    In addition, if too much sugar is ingested in the diet, it will also bring many complications such as gout and malnutrition due to obesity and diabetes. Therefore, we should pay enough attention to the harm of sugar to health.

 

How to reduce sugar intake

 

    Reducing sugar intake should start from changing daily life habits:

 

    1. Eat reasonable meals and reduce the intake of high sugar snacks. Vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, bread, meat and fish are the basis of a low sugar healthy diet.

 

    2. Reduce the use of sweeteners. Many people may think that they can avoid adding sugar without buying packaged food and drinks. However, you can still find the added sugar in the sweeteners (such as honey, concentrated fruit juice and brown sugar) needed for cooking and baking. ^【4】

 

    3. Eat less refined sugar. Reduce the consumption of refined sugar (such as white sugar and granulated sugar) and increase the intake of complex sugar (such as rice and natural fruits and vegetables). Sugar should be controlled within 50g a day, which has no negative effect on the body.

 

    4. Drink less sugary drinks. The average sugar content of cola and fruit juice is about 11%. If you drink 500 ml of such drinks, you will consume about 55 grams of sugar at a time. It is recommended to drink boiled water, light tea, lemonade, soybean milk, milk, mung bean soup, and self squeezed fresh juice.

 

    5. When drinking instant drinks, it is recommended to add twice as much water as the suggested amount during preparation, which can not only slow down the change of blood sugar, but also avoid excessive intake of refined sugar.

 

    6. Eat less fruits with high sugar content. Many people eat fruit instead of dinner in summer, To achieve the goal of weight loss. In fact, the sugar content of many fruits is often above 8%. If you eat too much and cannot be consumed by the body, it will become fat and enter the body fat cells, The deposit causes weight gain.

 

    Therefore, healthy diet and proper intake of refined sugar are the healthy way.

reference material:

【1】 Lin Zhengqiu, The History of Sugar and the Ancestor of Sugar Industry;

【2】 Liu Xiaoxue, Liu Guoliang, Zheng Chuanfang. Analysis and prospect of sugar consumption in China in 2012 ［ J ］. Agricultural Outlook, 2012 (11): 55-59;

【3】 Fan Zhihong, Food Nutrition and Catering;

【4】 Web Med website article: Sugars & Sweeteners Quiz: Test Your Sugar Smarts;

【5】Gaby,A.R.(2005). Adverse effects of dietary fructose. Alternative Medicine Review,10(4),294-306;

【6】 Mayo Medicine, The Code of Birth, Old Age, Illness and Death;

【7】 Fan Zhihong, Drinking more sweet drinks, high risk of gout;

【8】 Fan Zhihong, "Do you lack B vitamins? New findings and countermeasures";

【9】 Fan Zhihong, What Can You Drink to Increase the Risk of Kidney Stone