Nancy LC
Tue, Mar-09-04, 09:09
PERSONAL HEALTH
In an Obese World, Sweet Nothings Add Up
By JANE E. BRODY
Published: March 9, 2004
ow sweet it is. I'm referring to the American diet, replete with sweet foods and drinks, commercially sweetened cereals, sodas, fruit drinks and "ades," ice cream, cake, muffins, cookies and candy, as well as naturally sweet fruits and fruit juices.
We are all born liking a sweet taste, perhaps to stimulate a desire for breast milk, which is naturally sweet, or ripe edible fruit. These foods are excellent sources of nutrients that support growth and good health. Indeed, as the American Dietetic Association points out in a new position paper on sweeteners, "By increasing palatability of nutrient-dense foods/beverages, sweeteners can promote diet healthfulness."
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For example, for a child who refuses to drink milk, the addition of sweet chocolate powder can enhance consumption of this health-promoting food. Likewise, a little sugar added to a high-fiber cereal can encourage the consumption of a food that lowers cholesterol and promotes good digestion.
But as with any substance prone to overuse, sweeteners can also work against us. Modern manufacturing has introduced a plethora of sweetened products that are less than nutritious and that could contribute to weight gain and ill health because their sweetness encourages overconsumption.
The consumption of added caloric sugars has soared in the last half-century, despite the introduction and undeniable popularity of artificial (i.e. non-nutritive) sweeteners that supply few, if any, calories.
According to the findings of the latest national nutrition survey, from 1988 to 1994, the average daily intake of added sugar varied from 40 to 120 grams a day, or 160 calories to 480 calories, or an average of 21 percent of daily calories. The World Health Organization recommends half that amount, and my guess is that consumption is considerably higher today, given readily observed changes in the marketplace.
There is no direct evidence that caloric sweeteners by themselves increase the risk of obesity. But there is also no question that in the United States and throughout the world, rates of overweight and obesity are increasing because people are consuming more calories than they expend, even as their intake of several essential nutrients declines. This suggests that people are eating and drinking more calorically dense but nutrient-deficient foods, many if not most because they are sweet.
Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon is the carbonated soft drink sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Such beverages contribute nothing but sweet calories and water and have replaced nutrient-rich milk and fruit juices in the diets of millions of Americans, especially adolescents and young adults.
The consumption of high-fructose corn syrup has skyrocketed 4,000 percent since the early 1970's. By 2000, per capita annual consumption of the sweetener in this country exceeded 62 pounds, while consumption of cane and beet sugars decreased just 35 percent, from 100.5 pounds to 65.6 pounds per capita. That represents an annual net gain of 27 pounds of sugar in the average American diet.
Sugar's Health Effects
No responsible nutrition expert suggests abandoning all foods and drinks that contain added sugars, caloric or otherwise. But in seeking to satisfy the desire for sweetness, it helps to know what effects the various sweeteners, natural and artificial, can have on health.
Each gram of sugar, whether sucrose (table sugar, a combination of glucose and fructose from sugar cane or sugar beets) or pure fructose (fruit sugar), supplies four calories, the same as a gram of starch or protein. A teaspoon of sugar provides about 16 calories. Both sugars can promote tooth decay.
In most people, the small intestine contains enzymes to foster the digestion of all natural sugars, but absorption rates vary. Fructose can by itself be malabsorbed and may cause diarrhea in young children who consume large amounts of apple juice or fructose-sweetened drinks. Other sweeteners called polyols — sorbitol and mannitol, for example — are also less than fully absorbed and can cause diarrhea in consumers of any age. Lactose, the milk sugar, can also cause gastrointestinal upset in people who lose their ability to produce the enzyme lactase.
Page 2 here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/09/health/nutrition/09BROD.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5062&en=70ba1dc2e12ff076&partner=GOOGLE&ex=1079413200
In an Obese World, Sweet Nothings Add Up
By JANE E. BRODY
Published: March 9, 2004
ow sweet it is. I'm referring to the American diet, replete with sweet foods and drinks, commercially sweetened cereals, sodas, fruit drinks and "ades," ice cream, cake, muffins, cookies and candy, as well as naturally sweet fruits and fruit juices.
We are all born liking a sweet taste, perhaps to stimulate a desire for breast milk, which is naturally sweet, or ripe edible fruit. These foods are excellent sources of nutrients that support growth and good health. Indeed, as the American Dietetic Association points out in a new position paper on sweeteners, "By increasing palatability of nutrient-dense foods/beverages, sweeteners can promote diet healthfulness."
Advertisement
For example, for a child who refuses to drink milk, the addition of sweet chocolate powder can enhance consumption of this health-promoting food. Likewise, a little sugar added to a high-fiber cereal can encourage the consumption of a food that lowers cholesterol and promotes good digestion.
But as with any substance prone to overuse, sweeteners can also work against us. Modern manufacturing has introduced a plethora of sweetened products that are less than nutritious and that could contribute to weight gain and ill health because their sweetness encourages overconsumption.
The consumption of added caloric sugars has soared in the last half-century, despite the introduction and undeniable popularity of artificial (i.e. non-nutritive) sweeteners that supply few, if any, calories.
According to the findings of the latest national nutrition survey, from 1988 to 1994, the average daily intake of added sugar varied from 40 to 120 grams a day, or 160 calories to 480 calories, or an average of 21 percent of daily calories. The World Health Organization recommends half that amount, and my guess is that consumption is considerably higher today, given readily observed changes in the marketplace.
There is no direct evidence that caloric sweeteners by themselves increase the risk of obesity. But there is also no question that in the United States and throughout the world, rates of overweight and obesity are increasing because people are consuming more calories than they expend, even as their intake of several essential nutrients declines. This suggests that people are eating and drinking more calorically dense but nutrient-deficient foods, many if not most because they are sweet.
Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon is the carbonated soft drink sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup. Such beverages contribute nothing but sweet calories and water and have replaced nutrient-rich milk and fruit juices in the diets of millions of Americans, especially adolescents and young adults.
The consumption of high-fructose corn syrup has skyrocketed 4,000 percent since the early 1970's. By 2000, per capita annual consumption of the sweetener in this country exceeded 62 pounds, while consumption of cane and beet sugars decreased just 35 percent, from 100.5 pounds to 65.6 pounds per capita. That represents an annual net gain of 27 pounds of sugar in the average American diet.
Sugar's Health Effects
No responsible nutrition expert suggests abandoning all foods and drinks that contain added sugars, caloric or otherwise. But in seeking to satisfy the desire for sweetness, it helps to know what effects the various sweeteners, natural and artificial, can have on health.
Each gram of sugar, whether sucrose (table sugar, a combination of glucose and fructose from sugar cane or sugar beets) or pure fructose (fruit sugar), supplies four calories, the same as a gram of starch or protein. A teaspoon of sugar provides about 16 calories. Both sugars can promote tooth decay.
In most people, the small intestine contains enzymes to foster the digestion of all natural sugars, but absorption rates vary. Fructose can by itself be malabsorbed and may cause diarrhea in young children who consume large amounts of apple juice or fructose-sweetened drinks. Other sweeteners called polyols — sorbitol and mannitol, for example — are also less than fully absorbed and can cause diarrhea in consumers of any age. Lactose, the milk sugar, can also cause gastrointestinal upset in people who lose their ability to produce the enzyme lactase.
Page 2 here: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/09/health/nutrition/09BROD.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5062&en=70ba1dc2e12ff076&partner=GOOGLE&ex=1079413200