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Sweetness we can do without
27 January 2010
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, says Mary Poppins. But the fact is we need to come to terms with the bitter truth – we had better cut down on our sugar intake or pay the price later.
If you haven’t made any New Year resolutions, here’s one that you should make and keep – for good health and more pocket change. Cut down on your sugar consumption!
Break away from the “26 teaspoonfuls of sugar daily” consumer profile that Malaysians are notorious for.
Do your part to help our country move down lower in the global ranking which puts Malaysia as the eighth highest consumer of sugar.
With the recent increase in sugar price from RM1.45 to RM1.65 per kg, and the Government’s proposal to remove subsidies for the essential item, cutting down on sugar means beefing up the savings.
For most Malaysians, cutting down on their daily intake of sugar will be an uphill battle as everyone loves their sweet glass of teh tarik, kuih, confectionery, carbonated drinks and a host of other sugar-laden foodstuff.
But did you know that your daily intake of sugar should be no more than six teaspoons and definitely not 26?
A quick calculation with dieticians reveals that teh tarik contains three teaspoons of sugar, a regular-sized chocolate bar five to 10 teaspoons of sugar, soft drinks at least seven teaspoons of sugar while a sachet of 3-in-1 drink about 31/2 teaspoons of sugar.
Local kuih, meanwhile, has two to five teaspoons of sugar. That means if you consume two glasses of teh tarik, a chocolate bar and a can of soft drink in one day, you are consuming at least 23 teaspoons of sugar. And we are only talking about the simple sugars here.
Ho Wan Mi, senior dietitian at Sunway Medical Centre, shares that we consume 50% to 60% of our calorie intake from carbohydrates, including all the sugars and starches we eat.
“Carbohydrate is the main energy source for the body. It is transformed by the body into blood sugar (glucose), the basic food for the body cells,” she says.
Sources of carbohydrates include wheat (bread, noodles, pasta), rice, cereal and grains. But for many Malaysians, sugar is a must because of our cravings.
Malaysian Diabetes Association president Prof Datuk Dr Ikram Shah Ismail says that our sugar cravings start from a young age.
“Sugar is a bad habit. Parents reward children by giving them sweets when they are young,” he says, adding that it is a habit that can be unlearned.
Dr Ikram supports the recent increase in the price of sugar, saying that it is big enough to have an impact on people.
He shares that many years ago, a small town in New Zealand enacted a law limiting the amount of oil restaurants used to fry food. The result? The incidence of obesity went down in the town.
“The current move to get Malaysians to cut down on their sugar intake will make more people aware of the dangers of sugar,” he says.
But it is hard to get away from sugar. The Journal of the American Dietetic Association reveals that sugar makes up 33% of soft drinks, 16% of candy, 13% of cakes, cookies, pies and pastries respectively.
A local food technologist says that sugar is added to food not only for its taste but also for functional reasons.
This includes getting the structure for certain items such as cakes and cookies for the formation of crumbs. Sugar is also added to extend the shelf life of dried fruits and jams.
“The sugar content can be reduced but the food would not be as tasty,” she says.
One way to cut down on sugar is to order drinks with “kurang manis”. Mary Easaw-John, chief dietician at the National Heart Institute (IJN), says that weaning oneself off sugar is a matter of readjusting the tastebuds. She suggests that those with sugar cravings eat fruits.
“At least the fruits contain fibre. Refined sugar, however, is high in calories and has no nutrient value at all,” she says.
Ho adds that sweetness can be obtained from artificial sweeteners for beverages, fruits, dried fruits for dessert or some baking items, at the same time cautioning that baked foods are a major source of sugar in our diet.
“Cutting down on sugar will require some experimentation, so you may have to adjust your recipes a few times to get it right. Start by reducing the sugar content by one-third to one-half. If you cut the sugar by half, decrease the liquid in the recipe by 55ml,” she says.
Ho says that for biscuits, cakes, muffins or pancakes, the sweetness from sugar may be substituted with that of raisins, dates, dried apricots and bananas. For baking, Splenda can be used to substitute sugar.
If your willpower is strong, don’t substitute. Abstain or avoid temptations!
CAP President SM Mohd Idris says that mothers should not stock up their fridges with syrups and carbonated drinks but instead stock up on fresh fruit. He adds that sugar should not be added to fresh juices ordered at restaurants.
“When the realisation comes, one will automatically wean off from sugary stuff. When we cut down and eventually cut out sugar from our food, we will be able to wean ourselves from it,” says Idris.
But the best bet to cutting down on sugar successfully would be to do it gradually. Easaw-John points out that people might be able to drink tea without sugar, but would find it hard to do the same with coffee because of its bitter taste.
To overcome this, she suggests that patients cut down on sugar gradually.
“For drinks, cut down half a teaspoon at a time until you reach a level you are comfortable with,” she says.
She advises her patients to cut down from using 2kg of sugar in a month to 1.5kg and subsequently to 1kg.
Dr Ikram says that some of his patients have become nauseated by the taste of sugar after slowly cutting it from their diet.
Coffee drinker V.Prasad, 34, can testify to this method. He used to take two teaspoons in his coffee but now does not take any sugar.
“Cut out half a spoon of sugar every time. Earlier, I tried cutting it out instantaneously but it was too bitter. But when I did it gradually, I did not have any problems,” he says.
This article was first published in www.thestar.com.my on 24 January 2010.
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