“I’ll get the orange juice please, I’m going on a health kick!”
A common misconception is classifying orange juice as healthy, when in fact the average juice has the same amount of added sugar as a bottle of coke (16tsp/ 600mL). Many foods are labeled with health star ratings, however even packets with 5 stars can still be packed with sugar! For example; commercial muesli contains 5tsp of sugar per 100g, you could say I was shocked when I found my favorite “healthy” breakfast is almost classified as a dessert.
The World Health Organisation have analyzed a statistic that suggests an individual should consume 10% of added sugar in accordance to their calories consumed that day; equivalent to 12tsp for average adult.
Added sugar is what’s found in the processed beverages and sweets, once metabolized turns to glucose and fructose. In comparison to natural sugar found in fruit and vegetables, which metabolizes to fructose but mostly glucose. The body has several diverse ways of breaking down glucose as it is vital for the body, however fructose is not. Fructose can only be broken down in the liver, but once the liver is overloaded it converts the fructose to fat (Kris Guunnars, 2013).
A census found that 21% of Australian adult’s energy comes from simple sugars (Kris Guunnars, 2013). Therefore, if the suggested amount is 10%, as a nation we’re consuming more than double the recommended amount DAILY, justifying the obesity epidemic of 2018. So, the next time you go to eat a packaged food take a quick glance at the sugar content, then make your insightful decision.
Hope our foodie fanatics enjoyed these sweet statistics of the week! Sugar is such a broad and controversial topic so we’ll go into more depth in the future if you found this interesting! #teamVHAP #foodiefacts#vectorhealth