Sugar intake doesn't highlight added sugar versus sugar content in natural foods.

Bassamst
Bassamst Posts: 1 Member

Answers

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,502 Member

    If added sugar is mentioned on the nutritional labels where you are then you're the rare one out because it's generally not mentioned in most countries. This is a global website. And most of the database is entered by users, who might have this information available or not. or who might do odd things, like enter sugar in an apple to added sugar. You don't gain anything from that. Hey, many database entries on salt are totally messed up: some people log sodium as salt, some mix up mg and g, etc, simple due to how this information is provided on nutritional labels in various countries. If you're worried about sugar for health reasons then I suggest eating as little processed food as possible. Or look on the labels and decide based on that.

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,548 Member

    If a food it truly natural, by definition it doesn't have any added sugar.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 36,303 Member

    If a person reads the World Health Organization recommendations about sugar - which I did - there are 3 things that they say are the big reasons to cut down on added sugar:

    1. Eating too much added sugar alongside getting adequate nutrition, a person will eat too many total calories, so gain weight.
    2. Eating too much added sugar within reasonable calories, a person won't get remotely close to ideal nutrition.
    3. Sugar causes dental cavities.

    Y'know what? Eat too much sugar, even when it's not technically "added sugar", and those same things happen. Added sugar is pretty much the same chemicals as the inherent sugar that's in in nice, healthy whole foods. It's just that added sugar has been pulled out of other foods (beets, as one common example), leaving behind other useful nutrients, and the sugar has been concentrated. High calorie density, low nutrient density . . . not helpful.

    Yes, some people are already diagnosed with a health condition that makes managing carbohydrates - including sugar - important to manage carefully. But otherwise - and even to some extent for them - it makes sense to try to get as close as practical to getting good overall nutrition within reasonable calories. Choose mostly whole foods that fit ample protein, healthy fats, a good complement of micronutrients, fiber, and beneficial phytochemicals into the right number of calories, and sugar will shrink into the background where it belongs.

    Personally, I do better when I focus on getting the good nutrients into my way of eating, and staying with reasonable calories. Worrying about getting "bad foods" out of my eating doesn't help me get the nutrition I want within that calorie goal, so doesn't really help me reach my health goals. YMMV.

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,963 Member
    edited May 4

    Honey is natural, but is considered added sugar. Maple syrup is considered natural, but is also considered added sugar. Natural doesn't automatically mean good or no added ingredients. Whole foods generally will not have added sugar.

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,548 Member

    Honey does not contain any added sugars. Here is a nutrition label from honey. Of course it has sugars in it, but no added sugars.

    image.png
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,632 Member

    Yeah neither honey or maple syrup are added sugars. She's saying they're often added to recipes, which sure, they are added natural sugars but it's not the same as refined sugars that are specifically manufactured to be added to the food supply.

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,632 Member

    I agree. I drizzled some added honey on my rabbit liver parfait that I added to my chicharron, therefore it's an added sugar, it's just not in a package but the FDA still considers it an added sweetener regardless so I'm good to go and following their invaluable knowledge.

  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,963 Member

    I use probably a couple tablespoons worth in my tea every day. Not saying people shouldn't eat it, but technically speaking, it's an added sugar.

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,632 Member

    I'm going to revise my answer to not include maple syrup to that definition.

    For all intents and purpose maple syrup is a refined product not found in nature and the maple sap, mostly water is filtered to remove debris then is boiled and concentrating the liquid until it resembles maple syrup which takes about 40 liters to make 1 liter. It's filtered again then graded on color and taste, which for all intense and purpose is similar to sugar production from beets and cane.

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,548 Member

    You're not reading my comment correctly. Natural honey contains no added sugars. If you add honey to another food as part of the processing, then yes it counts as an added sugar in that food.

    image.png

    https://www.fda.gov/food/nutrition-facts-label/added-sugars-nutrition-facts-label

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 10,502 Member

    And on the note of honey: most 'honey' is not natural honey but made from beet, rice or wheat syrups. Within the EU the number is estimated to be higher than 40%. This is mostly impor% is ted honey. In the US, over 70% of honey is imported. So who knows… unless you buy from a local beekeeper you have no idea what you're getting.

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,548 Member

    Will disagree with a point in here. Reducing added sugar IMO will improve health/nutrition assuming no other changes. Added sugars provide no nutritional value, except added calories, which we all know the vast majority of the population doesn't need. Foods with naturally occurring sugars as you mention have other components that are needed for health/good nutrition.

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,632 Member
    edited May 6

    Exactly. According to the CDC the average American consumes about 1 lb a week of added sugars.

    Of course if someone consumes mostly a whole food diet and does most of their own cooking and use refined sugar once in a while or eat few pastries now or then, it's effect is minimal and don't really think much of the consequences or doesn't know, they're just living a live where most junk and processed foods are basically a non factor, wish I was one of those, but unfortunately sugar is my kryptonite, not any more though and I plan to keep it that way.

    Unfortunately most Americans, around 70% of that population consumes a diet high in ultra processed and processed food, including that pound of sugars with about the same coincidently 70% that are overweight and obese and half of those have insulin resistance, prediabetes and diabetes, also there's a significant number of Americans that have never actually been tested as well.

    Added sugar is played down by the USDA simply because the nutritional guidelines in 1992 said to consume 6 to 11 servings of grains a day which they believed was the foundation of a healthy diet. Because of possible nutritional deficiencies if consuming only whole grain they also said to consume 1/2 of those servings of grains in refined grains like bread and cereal. As it is the RDA is still short about 2or 3% of the population based on the guidelines which basically leaves about 6 to 9 million people inadequately protected from nutritional deficiencies and that doesn't take into consideration that again almost 70% of the population consumes mostly the SAD diet and not the recommended diet, and a good reason why deficiencies exist in many western countries.

    Anyway if we take added sugar alone and consider people are consuming 1 lb a week, this has some pretty serious consequences and if we just look at ground zero for our health, it would be our gut, our microbiome, with sugar and also highly processed foods with many other metabolites in those foods that go along with the growing and cultivating those foods for consumption which result in very problematic and extremely deleterious environment for a functional biome with these effects contributing to issues like digestive disorders, immune dysfunction, and metabolic diseases, most actually.

  • Theoldguy1
    Theoldguy1 Posts: 2,548 Member
    edited May 7

    The WHO among others, based on research, believes reducing added (free) sugars is important for health.

    https://www.who.int/news/item/04-03-2015-who-calls-on-countries-to-reduce-sugars-intake-among-adults-and-children

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 36,303 Member
    edited May 7

    Apparently, I'm expressing myself unclearly, because two replies now seem to imply that I think it's fine to eat infinite amounts of added sugar, ignoring all health authorities.

    That is not true. Eating too much sugar is bad, and added sugar is probably the easiest way to eat too much sugar. Specifically, I think it's almost always bad to eat lots of added sugar. (Long endurance athletes may be an exception.)

    I've read the WHO's recommendations on sugar in detail. I even mention WHO and summarize their reasoning in a PP on this very thread. Quoting myself:

    Eating too much added sugar alongside getting adequate nutrition, a person will eat too many total calories, so gain weight.

    Eating too much added sugar within reasonable calories, a person won't get remotely close to ideal nutrition.

    Sugar causes dental cavities.

    The article you link cites the first and third of those reasons as key.

    What I'm trying to say is that as an individual - for me, at least - focusing on reducing added sugar misses the point, the real goal, which is healthy body weight, good nutrition, and dental health specifically.

    If a person focuses on getting good overall nutrition at reasonable calories, added sugar - and maybe total sugar - is likely to shrink. Sure, just getting rid of the added sugar may reduce total calories enough to lead to weight loss. (But if calorie consumption stays high from consuming other foods, weight loss isn't going to happen.)

    Sure, if there is weight loss from reducing added sugar, there will likely be health improvement - meaningful health improvement - just from that weight loss. That's a good thing. But if the rest of the diet is still sub-par in any of protein, healthy fats, micronutrients, fiber, etc., then health improvement won't be as significant as would accrue from weight loss plus good overall nutrition.

    We have limited time, attention, intellect and all that kind of thing. I'd encourage people to focus it on the goal of getting good overall nutrition (from food, not supplements, ideally) at reasonable calories. If that's achieved, it will almost certainly result - as a side effect - in getting less added sugar, fewer refined and highly processed foods, and that sort of thing.

    Focusing on added sugar can lead to side trips, a distraction from the big goals. The artificially-sweetened donut isn't materially more health-promoting than the sugar-sweetened donut, though it may be more helpful to a weight loss goal (and possibly has other advantages for someone with a relevant health condition). With or without added sugar, high calorie food tends to be fattening, and nutrient-sparse food tends to be sub-ideal for health. Weight loss by itself is great, generally health-promoting compared to being overweight, but it's not the whole story.

    Fussing about MFP not totaling added sugar can even be a convenient excuse. I can't speak for or about OP, but IRL before the current labeling regs I've heard people use products not listing added sugar as an excuse for weight management or health failures. Personally, I've never found it difficult - at least since the NLEA went into effect in the 1990s - to figure out which products were high in sugar and low in nutrients. I might've missed some small weirdly-named sugar item, but honestly I don't care: Reducing sugar intake to a sensible level doesn't require wringing out ever last gram of the "evil" added sugar.

    At the societal level, focusing specifically on reducing added sugar makes more sense, as a target for things like regulation and labeling to raise public awareness of how much added sugar is in commercial food products, and create market pressure to reduce the prevalence. It isn't the be-all end-all of improving public health, but it's a piece that it's useful for governments and nonprofits to call out.

    I'm still going to say that for an individual, rather than investing time and energy totaling up added sugar and focusing on reducing that, there's a bigger return on that time and energy if an individual focuses on achieving reasonable calories and good overall nutrition.

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,944 Member

    What's next in the regulatory world for food labels: Demand to break added sugars down by mono-, oligo-, poly- and dissaccharides, or list fructose separately because it's extra evil, or . . . ?

    LOL, apparently:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48066975/#Comment_48066975

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 36,303 Member

    Yeah, I saw that, mere minutes after I posted the rant above. In fairness, it seems possible that fructose is more of a concern than sucrose, glucose, lactose, etc., for someone who has NAFLD, NASH, or is high risk for conditions like that. Too much of any sugars are likely a bad thing for health conditions like those, too.

    The opinion I'm advancing in this thread is how I'd think of it for a generally healthy person. Specific health conditions may differ.

    I'd observe that there are many health conditions or medication regimens for which other nutrients loom large as concerns, like vitamin K in context of some blood thinners, phosphorus for people with CKD, and more. I'm not shooting for "what about-ism" in saying that, but there are a variety of health conditions that unfortunately require more nuanced information about food than our current US labeling regulations support well. Those needs are more acute IMO than the need for the average person to have added sugar broken out from total sugar, and IMU the response of diabetics or insulin resistant people to sugar depends on context beyond simply knowing how much is added sugar vs. inherent so I'm not sure whether that distinction is key for them, either.

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,944 Member

    I completely agree with you Ann. I haven't delved into it as much as you have, and I admit I come from a place of educated privilege but I don't actually need a label or MFP to warn me that a product I'm consuming has high levels of sugar, added or not, and to avoid products that do. I eat very largely whole foods (and I'm not a fruit eater, so that brings things down) but I tend to just avoid products which have added sugar, unless I'm eating because they have added sugar (by this I mean, you bet your butt that if I'm having ice cream, it's going to be the real thing).

    I think the labelling of added sugar and its foibles actually adds more confusion (the above discussion of how a jar of honey has no added sugar, but add that honey to oats, and now it's added sugar is a big one) and really gives the government and the various facets of the health industry a way to say "look, we're making things more transparent!" when really, just actually educating people on what sugar is, the different things it's called, and the simple logic of what does and doesn't already have natural sugar levels is the far more useful goal.

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 36,303 Member

    Personally, I don't feel like government or other large organizations knowingly posture in that kind of way, at least not in relatively open societies. It would take a large scale conspiracy about revealing motives, and people are pretty bad at sustaining conspiracies: The more people involved, the more probable the conspiracy breaks down . . . or in this case, the façade breaks down. I think it's more likely to have been a response to public pressure. After a while, demands can wear down even a bureaucracy.

    As far as "actually educating people on what sugar is, the different things it's called, and the simple logic of what does and doesn't already have natural sugar levels" . . . I wish. But, cynically, I feel like the predominant mass of the general public is more learning-resistant than that. I'm not saying "stupid", because it's not that, or not mostly . . . but more like too busy, too uninterested, focused on other things, and thus vulnerable to clickbait, simplistic statements, overstatements, black and white thinking, propaganda by entities with vested interests, and that sort of thing. Modern life is hard and complicated. Every important realm has nuance that many people could benefit greatly from knowing more about, but the public doesn't have the interest or available attention bandwidth to master. There are too many topic areas to master, besides.

    If I had a dollar for every time someone I went to school with said/typed "they should have taught us X in school!!!" when I know bleepin' well that they DID teach us X in school, I'd be piling up wealth. And yes, the 3 exclamation points are usually part of the way they put that idea.

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,944 Member

    Oh, definitely not implying any kind of a conspiracy, I've worked in government haha. Every time I see someone posture a government cover up, I remember the clusterfeck of trying to organise something as straightforward as a fundraiser morning tea. I mean more like it's lip service, or as you say a bowing to public pressure and the need to appear to be seen to be doing something.

  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,133 Member

    You’re not reading HER comment correctly, because that’s what she said, that honey IS an added sugar when added to other foods even though it’s natural.

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,632 Member
    edited 3:00AM

    When we add a food to another food the first food is an added food, good to know. 🤔Honey is recognized as an added sugar, although it can be consumed alone, it's for nutritional labeling.