Sugar in fruits, table sugar, and sugar substitutes, which one should be quit the most?

Author: Cui Yihui, registered dietitian, master of medicine

Reviewer: Wang Junbo, Associate Professor and Doctoral Supervisor, Peking University Health Science Center

Nowadays, "rich diseases" are prevalent, especially diabetes, which makes people "worry". People who advocate a healthy diet will first "quit sugar" because sugar (or sweets) can only bring temporary happiness, but may cause health problems such as obesity, tooth decay, and diabetes, so they can only "give up" it with pain.

■Which type of sugar should you quit?

The answer is table sugar, which is also called "free sugars". According to the World Health Organization (WHO) in the "Guidelines for Sugar Intake for Adults and Children", free sugars include the following three categories.

➣Sucrose (white sugar, soft sugar, rock sugar, brown sugar), glucose and fructose added when making food.

➣Sweet starch hydrolysis products commonly used in the food industry, such as starch syrup, maltose syrup, glucose syrup, corn syrup and fructose syrup.

➣Pure fruit juice and fruit juice concentrate, and sugar present in honey.

Free sugars do not include the following 3 categories.

➣Sugars naturally found in whole, fresh fruits and vegetables.

➣Lactose in milk.

➣Starch in grains and potatoes.

An adult's daily intake of free sugars should be controlled below 10% of the total energy intake. If it drops below 5%, or the daily intake of sugar is about 25 g, it will be more beneficial to the body. For example, if a woman who does light physical labor needs to consume a total energy of 1500 kcal per day, the energy provided by free sugars is recommended not to exceed 150 kcal (equivalent to 37.5 g of sugar). In fact, it is easier to consume 37.5 g of sugar per day than we think. For example, many pure fruit juices on the market have a sugar content of 16% to 20%. Drinking a glass (about 200 ml) basically exceeds the sugar intake.

■Sugar in Fruit

So, are the sugar in fruits the same as the sugar added to processed foods? Is fruit a healthy food? Does “quitting sugar” mean we should stop drinking juice or should we also stop eating fruit? Here are 3 points to answer your questions.

➣Fresh fruits are of course healthy food. Although in terms of sugar composition, fruits naturally contain fructose, glucose, and sucrose, which is a compound of these two sugars, the sugar density in fruits is much lower. Moreover, fruits are not just for energy like carbonated drinks. Fruits are rich in vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and phytochemicals (lycopene, anthocyanins, etc.), which make fruits more nutritious. Therefore, fresh fruits are not restricted free sugars.

➣ No matter how pure the fruit juice sold in the market is, it is recommended to drink less (less than 1 cup per day, about 200 ml) or not drink it, which can be regarded as the same treatment as quitting sugary drinks such as cola. If a product claims to be "low in sugar", then it depends on whether it meets the low-sugar standard stated on the nutrition label (sugar content in 100 ml of liquid or solid is less than 5 g).

➣Try to eat fruits (whole foods are best). If you have physical problems (such as bad teeth) or special needs at special stages (such as intermittent fasting), you can also make freshly squeezed juice or smoothies at home. Freshly squeezed juice causes some crude fiber to be lost during the production process (only soluble dietary fiber is retained, making sugar absorption easier), while smoothies basically retain the complete fruit ingredients (the fiber is refined, easy to drink, and sugar absorption is also easy). If you make fruit into juice or smoothies, it is best to add vegetables to make vegetable and fruit juice instead of pure juice, and the amount of vegetables should be greater than the amount of fruit, which is healthier.

(Copyrighted image from the gallery, no permission to reprint)

"Quitting sugar" is as difficult as "quitting smoking". There are some "busybodies" in this world who have created substitutes that are sweeter than sugar but have less energy, namely the various sugar substitutes that everyone is familiar with. These "busybodies" have planned it perfectly, so that they can taste the sweetness without worrying about energy. As long as the energy intake is not high, it will not cause health problems.

■Are sugar substitutes safe?

Existing human trials have shown that healthy adults who eat sugar substitutes for a week will experience symptoms of high blood sugar. This conclusion is highly consistent with the results of many animal experiments. It is not the sugar substitutes themselves that cause blood sugar to rise, but the fact that the sugar substitutes cannot be digested by the human body after entering the body, but can directly become the energy source for certain microorganisms in the intestines. These bacteria "nourished" by sugar substitutes are the "behind-the-scenes pushers" of high blood sugar. It seems that people's desire to achieve the goal of "quitting sugar" by using sugar substitutes for a long time is not an effective solution. It is better to start by reducing or quitting edible sugar!