|
|
| 'Healthysugars'
Newsletter
|
|
(SUGAR &
OBESITY)
|
We all are born with a soft spot for sweetness, and most people maintain this fondness for sweet foods all through their life span. In today's health-conscious society
‘sugar’ has, however, been accused of contributing to more than a few illnesses from alcoholism to appendicitis, obesity, hyperactivity, and cardio-vascular ailments.
Increasingly, evidence is emerging to confirm that this belief has no scientific basis. This editorial is committed to dismissing the myths about ill effects of sugar on our health and clarifying the legitimate role of sugar in a balanced diet. In this particular piece we will discuss the unfounded information that sugar is contributory to obesity.
Everything described in here is supported by scientific reports and in the newsletters that follow; we shall take up other myths about sugar as a causative to disease, in progression.
|
|
|
|
MYTH
UNDER ANALYSIS: SUGAR IS CONTRIBUTORY TO OBESITY
|
|
|
|
In
order to maintain a healthy weight in the long term, a
person's energy intake from food and drink must be
directly proportional to his total energy expenditure
through physical activity. This, is commonly referred to
as the energy balance. Weight
gain occurs when the caloric intake is higher than the
calories burnt each day in normal activities and/ or
exercise. Eating sugar as such does not cause obesity.
Sugar's linkage to overweight and obesity is in the high
caloric content of many sweetened foods heavily consumed
by people trying to lose or maintain weight.
|
|
|
|
To
elucidate on this, let us understand the chemistry of
carbohydrate (sugar) and fat storage in the body. The
capacity for carbohydrate storage in the body is
restricted. Intake of excess carbohydrates in the form
of sugar or starch causes a rapid increase in their
oxidation. This phenomenon is not observed in case of
fat. To boot, conversion of sugar to fat is energy
inefficient.
On
the other hand, the capacity for fat storage in the body
is virtually infinite and all the excess dietary fat
that we may consume is readily and efficiently stored as
fat deposits, thereby causing obesity.
|
|
|
|
Sugars
and other carbohydrates tend to dampen down hunger pangs
without delay and in an efficient manner than most other
foods, especially fat-rich foods.
For example, you feel more full when you eat a
bowl of rice than when you finish up a packet of potato
wafers. The rationale for this is likely to be that fat
(9 KCal/g) has more than twice the amount of calories
per gram than carbohydrate (4 KCal/g). We tend to eat
approximately the same quantity of food at mealtime. If
there is more fat in that mealtime food, we don't
realize it and consequently eat more calories resulting
in the unsolicited weight gain.
|
|
NEXT |
|
|
|
