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- The sweet drug
- Our taste quickly gets used to less sweetness
- Consumers want a food traffic light
- The sugar traps
- Less sugar
- Cleverly camouflaged
The sweet drug
We eat one hundred grams of sugar every day. That's 33 pieces of sugar cubes. Who now shakes his head in disbelief: we take 27 pieces of it more or less unconsciously to us. What many people do not know (or like to suppress): In almost all processed foods, sugar is in it, even if they do not taste sweet at all. Pickled cucumbers, mustard, potato salad, ready-made pizza, red cabbage, tomato ketchup - everything is sweetened and usually not too short. For example, some ketchup contains 30 percent sugar, making it easy to beat ice cream. The problem: In the long run, our organism can not process so much sweets and gets sick. The number of diabetics has been rising for years, but physicians are responsible for the high sugar intake not only for diabetes and fatty liver, but also for obesity and the associated risks such as heart attack and stroke. "If we do not rethink soon and eat less sugar, our health care system will collapse in the near future, " warns. Matthias Riedl, nutritionist and diabetologist.
Our taste quickly gets used to less sweetness
20 to 30 grams of sugar per day Riedl for justifiable, so that would be two thirds less than the average person plastered so far. His tip for the beginning: "Slowly reduce coffee and tea gradually less sweet, you get used to it very quickly." At some point you then discover the true taste of the drink and does not even like it so sweet. This trick also works with homemade food and baked goods: Often, the amount of sugar can be significantly reduced. Better a pinch than spoonful recommends Riedl. "That's how you learn to change your sweet taste, and you can do a lot less."
It's hard to avoid sugar. Sweet temptations lure on every street corner. Snacks, cakes, ice cream and lemonade are always and everywhere available. This fits in with our way of life: we eat far more often out of the house than our parents do, and increasingly resort to ready meals in the daily rush. Already for breakfast cornflakes (sugar content: 37%) on the table, in between, it may be like times a milk slices (29.5%), and in the evening in the cinema we nibble chips with spicy dip (33%). No wonder that sugar consumption worldwide has tripled within 50 years and continues to rise.
Consumers want a food traffic light
Even regular fruit eaters are not on the safe side. Because even fruits contain sugar, the sweeter, the more. "The German Society for Nutrition recommends five servings of fruit and vegetables every day, " says dr. Riedl, "the recommendation should actually mean: a serving of fruit and four servings of vegetables."
Because overweight and diabetes are rampant everywhere, many countries are already thinking about government measures that could reduce sugar consumption . According to a survey by the health insurance DKV, 74 percent of Germans on all food products want a food traffic light that shows at a glance whether sugar, fat and salt are in the red or green range. So far there is such a mark only in England. "Even in the bakery, every snack should know how much sugar and calories are in it, " says Dr. Riedl, "that would be a big step in the right direction." Until then, only one thing helps: inform, choose wisely and often refrain .
The sugar traps
Gummy bears: 46% sugar
Yogurt gums: 71%
Coca-Cola: 11%
Russian bread: 51%
Muesli bar: 30 - 40%
Curry ketchup: 30%
Cocktail Sauce: 10%
Red cabbage in glass: 10%
Fruit buttermilk: 11%
Balsamic dressing: 14%
Cornflakes: 37%
Canned pineapple: 20%
Nut nougat cream: 58%
Licorice: 78%
Less sugar
Mozzarella: 1.5%
Emmentaler: 0%
Liver sausage: 1%
Salami: 1.5%
Country ham: 0%
Lentil stew in tin: 1%
Schlemmerfilet: 1, 5%
Beet soup: 1%
Ready-made pizza: 2 - 4%
Hamburger: 4%
Cream cheese: 3 - 7%
Natural yoghurt: 5 - 7%
Ready mashed potatoes: 1%
Vienna sausages: 0.5%
(Further food in the check on www.ampelcheck.de )
Cleverly camouflaged
On every processed food, the ingredients must be listed. However, sugar is often hidden under another name: glucose-fructose syrup, invert sugar syrup, dextrose, maltodextrin, natural fruit sweeteners and lactose. Adding the individual varieties, you get the true sugar content.
