“I take brown sugar instead of white sugar, which is good for health,”
“I prefer honey over jaggery for health reasons,”
And the list continues.
It is quite a fact that rumours regarding nutrition gather more traction than the facts, which is why quacks and pseudo influencers boom. Often while scrolling through the articles, one that infuriates me the most are the ones drawing a comparison between the added sugars. That is what my next write up stems from. While there is no doubt that white sugar is a villain, our body metabolizes all the added sugars the same way, so it does not make a difference in the source it is coming from. Morever, our body does not need added sugar at all, then be it the jaggery, honey or brown sugar. Added sugar in any form is a high glycemic index food that is rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream that leads to a spike and then a sudden drop in the blood sugar levels. Because our brains are wired to respond to sweet by craving for more sweet, prolonged consumption plays havoc with insulin, which is an open invitation for all chronic diseases.
Concerning liver, added sugars are a very good poison, they will help upregulate de-novo lipogenesis, the fat production machinery in our liver, which will further worsen fatty liver or set a fertile ground for fat deposition to begin.
That said, even if we avoid the known added sugars, as nutritionally literate buyers, it is our duty to read the ingredient list. But why? Because added sugar and salt (to be covered in the future posts) has a nasty habit of finding its way into our lives for the products we buy, assuming they are healthy for us. Before buying any food product, check for added sugar or its alternative names listed in the ingredient list; sucrose, glucose, dextrose, honey, invert sugar, raw sugar, agave nectar, brown sugar, molasses, evaporated cane juice, cane crystals, cane sugar, coconut sugar, corn syrup, corn sweetener, fructose, crystalline fructose, fruit juice concentrate, maltose, malt syrup, maple syrup, syrup, high fructose corn syrup.
Added sugar is nothing but an added burden that one can easily avoid.
Disclaimer: The information shared in the blog is aimed at increasing your awareness and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.
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