How much refined sugar can our bodies absorb?

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 10

How much refined sugar can our bodies absorb?

Good eating

Janice Bremer

DIETITIAN

High fibre foods are hailed as “the latest craze” for healthy eating. Reaching for that large wedge of chocolate cake, we used to wail the inevitable, “Oh but I shouldn’t!” Now we opt for a wholesome cucumber and tomato rye sandwich. Our “sweet-tooth” friends ask: “Are there scientifically proven merits in a lifetime of eating large quantities of indigestible food — and is sugar really so bad?” But nutritionists are advocating a diet with less, not none, of refined foods and meat. These foods are emphasised only because we eat so much of them. In his column last week. Professor Beaven asked whether our bodies, which have evolved over twenty million years, can successfully adapt to the highly-refined foods included in our diets only in the last 150 years. Sugar is one highly refined food that we commonly eat. The refining process separates the pure sugar from the rest of the sugar cane or sugar beet plant, which is almost entirely indigestible. White sugar is pure (99.9 per cent) sucrose and thus, cannot bring to our bodies any other nutrients with it. For this reason it is called an “empty calorie” food. Raw and brown sugars are intermediate products of the refining process. They are pyre sucrose covered with a fine film of non-sugar impurities (91 to 96 per cent sucrose). Although this example demonstrates the extreme in refining, it is important to consider that in its natural or “crude” state, this sweet substance is well wrapped up in fibre. Only 14 per cent of the sugar cane stem can be used as sugar, whereas we can absorb' about 65 per cent of wheat grain, as sugar. In an attempt to restore the proportion of nature, we are adding fibre to our diets. However, we can’t count on just one food to supply just one nutrient. If we mix a teaspoon of sugar with one quarter of a cup of bran we can simulate the sugar-fibre ratio of naturally high-fibre, high-sugar ’plants. But in doing this we lose the essential nutrients in the discarded plant parts. Studies have, shown that ground foods and sugars eaten without fibre are absorbed into our blood stream more rapidly because they require less digestion. Whole fibrous foods place less demands on our body’s regula-

tory processes. Plant foods vary in their amounts of sugar and fibre. If we don't add sugar to cereal products, small berry fruits, melons, nuts, and most vegetables these naturally have less sugars than fibre (white flour products have half as much sugar, and wholegrain products have only a quarter as much). Most other fruits have four to six times more sugar than fibre. However, fruit juices contain virtually no fibre. Sweet biscuits have five to 25 times, and cakes up to 40 times more sugar than fibre. They represent an over-bal-ance of sugar. The different sugars in ‘foods have varying sweetening potency. Fructose, the sugar found naturally in fruits is 50 per cent sweeter than sucrose. In theory, if our craving for sweetness can be met by a piece of fudge (2.5 cm square, and containing over a tablespoon of sugar), it should also be satisfied by 1 apple — for 60 per cent of the calories! Because it is always added to our foods, it is a simple matter to reduce the sucrose sugar in our diets. On average, New Zealand men tend to eat the equivalent of four to five tablespoons of sugar each day; and women, two to three tablespoons. This is mainly as sugary drinks, baked goods, icecream and desserts. New Zealanders consume more than half a bottle of beer per person each day. This amount of beer contributes almost another tablespoon of sugar! __

How much sugar is added to our food? TABLE I These whole foods contain little or no added sugar but each have about 2 grams of fibre: 2*i tablespoons cooked red kidney or similar beans 1 slice wholemeal bread 3 crispbreads ka cup puffed wheat ”3 cup porridge ’3 cup wholemeal spaghetti Average serving of vegetables 1 piece of raw fruit TABLE II For comparison, the refined equivalent of some of the above foods (also 2 grams of fibre) are:— 4 slices white bread 6 cracker biscuits It's cups sugar-coated cereal 4/5 cups spaghetti TABLE 111 These foods have negligible fibre and are high in added sugars. • Contain 2 teaspoons added sugar.— 1 tablespoon jam or sweet condensed milk, 1 scoop of icecream, 1 piece of short-! bread, % cup jelly, 6 wine biscuits, Vs cup of, instant pudding -or! tinned fruit, 1 glass of flavoured milk. • Contain 1 tablespoon added , sugar: — 1 pottle of flav- i oured yoghurt, 1 glass (150 ml cordial or soft drink, 3 barley-sugars or other sweets. • Contains 3 tablespoons added sugar:— 1 wedge chocolate cake (80g). .