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> The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) > has concluded that the recommended average population > maximum intake of sugar should be halved:

> The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) > has concluded that the recommended average population > maximum intake of sugar should be halved: it should > not exceed 5% of total dietary energy. If we say that an average man has nutritional requirements of 2500kcal per day, then these recommendations imply he should not consume more than 125kcal of sugar per day, which is 31.25 grams of sugar. A ~350ml can of Coke contains 39 grams of sugar [1]. A ~600ml 'Vitamin water' drink has 31 grams of sugar. A single McDonalds 'McFlurry' dessert has 64 grams of sugar [2]. Even something 'healthy' like a 250ml 'pomegranates, blueberries & acai' smoothie from 'innocent drinks' has 35 grams of sugar [4]. I guess my point is that we want people to reduce their sugar intake to recommended levels, there needs to be a sea change in what's seen as a normal diet. No one thinks that a 'McFlurry' is a health food, but in my experience they're not seen as a huge indulgence, despite being more than two-days worth of sugar-allowance for an average man, and more for an average woman. [1] http://www.coca-colaproductfacts.com/en/coca-cola-products/coca-cola/ [2] http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/product_nutrition.dessertsshakes.3832.mcflurry-with-oreo-cookies-12-fl-oz-cup.html [3] http://vitaminwater.com/files/vitaminwater_2014_NutritionFacts.pdf [4] https://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/things-we-make/our-smoothies/smoothies/pomegranates-blueberries-acai

IanCal 11y ago
Is that total sugar or "added/free" sugar? Because for a 2000kcal diet, that'd be about 100kcal of sugar or ~25 grams. That's equivalent to a single NLEA serving of apple. https://www.nutritionix.com/i/usda/apple-1-nlea-serving/513fceb475b8dbbc21000f8f https://www.nutritionix.com/i/usda/apple-1-nlea-serving/513f...
- sjwright 11y ago
  When it comes to processed foods, surely the human body doesn't care whether or not the sugar was "added" or was sourced from the primary listed ingredient on the package.
  - elbrownos 11y ago
    The fibre in whole fruit and vegetables blunts the rise in blood sugar level.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - sjwright 11y ago
      Which is why I specifically said processed food.
- noondip 11y ago
  Here's a similar recommendation from the World Health Organization: > A new WHO guideline recommends adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake. A further reduction to below 5% or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day would provide additional health benefits. > Free sugars refer to monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) added to foods and drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates. > The WHO guideline does not refer to the sugars in fresh fruits and vegetables, and sugars naturally present in milk, because there is no reported evidence of adverse effects of consuming these sugars. > Reducing free sugars intake to less than 10% of total daily energy intake was recommended by the WHO Study Group for the first time in 1989 and was further elaborated by a joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation in 2002. This new updated WHO guideline calls for further reduction of free sugars intake to less than 5% of total energy intake if possible. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en/ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guid...
- DanBC 11y ago
  Public health tends to ignore the sugars in fruit if you eat the whole fruit. As soon as you juice it or blend it or sometimes cook it they want you to count it as sugar.
louhike 11y ago
Why do you consider the smoothies from Innocent Drinks as healthy? I've always considered those as something bad for the health and I'm not sure they are marketing it as healthy.
- slagfart 11y ago
  Is this sarcastic? Look at the name of the brand, fer chrissakes
  - louhike 11y ago
    I'm a non-english speaker so it was not so obvious for me.
- DanBC 11y ago
  The general public sees fruit juices and smoothies as healthy. Public Health England had to issue advice asking people to limit their juice consumption and telling them not to count it as more than one of their "five a day".
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- gabemart 11y ago
  They market themselves as healthy. > our quest to make natural, delicious, healthy drinks that help people > live well and die old. [1] > They're healthy and they're all absolutely delicious. [2] > As fruit and veg experts, we make tasty, healthy, convenient ways to > help people get more fruit and veg into their diet. [3] [1] http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/our-story [2] http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/super-smoothies [3] http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/nutrition
odiroot 11y ago
Yes, we need a radical change of diet if we want to live healthier, for example to fight type-2 diabetes. Unfortunately my whole life I see the opposite trend. Everything gets low-fat or even "zero-fat" at the same time being rich with carbs (usually mostly sugar). Doesn't help that even latest "trendy" eats (e.g. vegan fad) are in general based on carbs as an energy source.
- noondip 11y ago
  There isn't any need to villainize carbohydrates. In their unadulterated form, derived from whole plant-based foods, it's perfectly reasonable to consume the majority of calories from "carbs". The trouble comes when these sugars are extracted, refined and added to processed foods. > Carbohydrate provides the majority of energy in the diets of most people. There are many reasons why this is desirable. In addition to providing easily available energy for oxidative metabolism, carbohydrate-containing foods are vehicles for important micronutrients and phytochemicals. Dietary carbohydrate is important to maintain glycemic homeostasis and for gastrointestinal integrity and function. Unlike fat and protein, high levels of dietary carbohydrate, provided it is obtained from a variety of sources, is not associated with adverse health effects. Finally, diets high in carbohydrate as compared to those high in fat, reduce the likelihood of developing obesity and its co-morbid conditions. An optimum diet should consist of at least 55% of total energy coming from carbohydrate obtained from a variety of food sources. > The bulk of carbohydrate-containing foods consumed [are recommended to] be those rich in non-starch polysaccharides and with a low glycemic index. Appropriately processed cereals, vegetables, legumes, and fruits are particularly good food choices. http://www.fao.org/docrep/W8079E/w8079e08.htm http://www.fao.org/docrep/W8079E/w8079e08.htm
eveningcoffee 11y ago
A ~350ml can of Coke contains 39 grams of sugar [1]. A ~600ml 'Vitamin water' drink has 31 grams of sugar. A single McDonalds 'McFlurry' dessert has 64 grams of sugar [2]. Yes, you should not consume these. Drink water instead and have a small ball of real Italian ice cream when available. You probably should also not eat all of your French fries too as starch is also easily turned into sugar inside your body. Problem is that they also add syrup inside your burger and white bread turns into sugar inside your body. TL;DR Avoid McDonalds.
- noondip 11y ago
  There's nothing wrong with starch (a complex carbohydrate of plant origin), nor its metabolization into sugar in the body. After all - sugar is the body's preferred energy source. A plain baked or boiled potato, especially sweet potato, is actually quite a healthful food. Just ask the traditional Okinawans, the longest living cohort documented. Now, this is definitely not a recommendation to eat McShit's, but your fear should be directed at the oil (fat) the fries are coated in, as well as the added salt, added sugar, and deep frying method of cooking.
  - eveningcoffee 11y ago
    There's nothing wrong with starch (a complex carbohydrate of plant origin), nor its metabolization into sugar in the body. Starch, for example, is a polymer of glucose units and is typically broken down to glucose. The most important carbohydrate is glucose, a simple sugar (monosaccharide) that is metabolized by nearly all known organisms. Doctors and scientists once believed that eating complex carbohydrates instead of sugars would help maintain lower blood glucose. Numerous studies suggest, however, that both sugars and starches produce an unpredictable range of glycemic and insulinemic responses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_metabolism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_metabolism

IanCal 11y ago

Is that total sugar or "added/free" sugar? Because for a 2000kcal diet, that'd be about 100kcal of sugar or ~25 grams. That's equivalent to a single NLEA serving of apple. https://www.nutritionix.com/i/usda/apple-1-nlea-serving/513fceb475b8dbbc21000f8f https://www.nutritionix.com/i/usda/apple-1-nlea-serving/513f...

sjwright 11y ago
When it comes to processed foods, surely the human body doesn't care whether or not the sugar was "added" or was sourced from the primary listed ingredient on the package.
- elbrownos 11y ago
  The fibre in whole fruit and vegetables blunts the rise in blood sugar level.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - sjwright 11y ago
    Which is why I specifically said processed food.
noondip 11y ago
Here's a similar recommendation from the World Health Organization: > A new WHO guideline recommends adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake. A further reduction to below 5% or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day would provide additional health benefits. > Free sugars refer to monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) added to foods and drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates. > The WHO guideline does not refer to the sugars in fresh fruits and vegetables, and sugars naturally present in milk, because there is no reported evidence of adverse effects of consuming these sugars. > Reducing free sugars intake to less than 10% of total daily energy intake was recommended by the WHO Study Group for the first time in 1989 and was further elaborated by a joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation in 2002. This new updated WHO guideline calls for further reduction of free sugars intake to less than 5% of total energy intake if possible. http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en/ http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guid...
DanBC 11y ago
Public health tends to ignore the sugars in fruit if you eat the whole fruit. As soon as you juice it or blend it or sometimes cook it they want you to count it as sugar.

louhike 11y ago

Why do you consider the smoothies from Innocent Drinks as healthy? I've always considered those as something bad for the health and I'm not sure they are marketing it as healthy.

slagfart 11y ago
Is this sarcastic? Look at the name of the brand, fer chrissakes
- louhike 11y ago
  I'm a non-english speaker so it was not so obvious for me.
DanBC 11y ago
The general public sees fruit juices and smoothies as healthy. Public Health England had to issue advice asking people to limit their juice consumption and telling them not to count it as more than one of their "five a day".
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
gabemart 11y ago
They market themselves as healthy. > our quest to make natural, delicious, healthy drinks that help people > live well and die old. [1] > They're healthy and they're all absolutely delicious. [2] > As fruit and veg experts, we make tasty, healthy, convenient ways to > help people get more fruit and veg into their diet. [3] [1] http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/our-story [2] http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/super-smoothies [3] http://www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/us/nutrition

odiroot 11y ago

Yes, we need a radical change of diet if we want to live healthier, for example to fight type-2 diabetes. Unfortunately my whole life I see the opposite trend. Everything gets low-fat or even "zero-fat" at the same time being rich with carbs (usually mostly sugar). Doesn't help that even latest "trendy" eats (e.g. vegan fad) are in general based on carbs as an energy source.

noondip 11y ago
There isn't any need to villainize carbohydrates. In their unadulterated form, derived from whole plant-based foods, it's perfectly reasonable to consume the majority of calories from "carbs". The trouble comes when these sugars are extracted, refined and added to processed foods. > Carbohydrate provides the majority of energy in the diets of most people. There are many reasons why this is desirable. In addition to providing easily available energy for oxidative metabolism, carbohydrate-containing foods are vehicles for important micronutrients and phytochemicals. Dietary carbohydrate is important to maintain glycemic homeostasis and for gastrointestinal integrity and function. Unlike fat and protein, high levels of dietary carbohydrate, provided it is obtained from a variety of sources, is not associated with adverse health effects. Finally, diets high in carbohydrate as compared to those high in fat, reduce the likelihood of developing obesity and its co-morbid conditions. An optimum diet should consist of at least 55% of total energy coming from carbohydrate obtained from a variety of food sources. > The bulk of carbohydrate-containing foods consumed [are recommended to] be those rich in non-starch polysaccharides and with a low glycemic index. Appropriately processed cereals, vegetables, legumes, and fruits are particularly good food choices. http://www.fao.org/docrep/W8079E/w8079e08.htm http://www.fao.org/docrep/W8079E/w8079e08.htm

eveningcoffee 11y ago

A ~350ml can of Coke contains 39 grams of sugar [1]. A ~600ml 'Vitamin water' drink has 31 grams of sugar. A single McDonalds 'McFlurry' dessert has 64 grams of sugar [2]. Yes, you should not consume these. Drink water instead and have a small ball of real Italian ice cream when available. You probably should also not eat all of your French fries too as starch is also easily turned into sugar inside your body. Problem is that they also add syrup inside your burger and white bread turns into sugar inside your body. TL;DR Avoid McDonalds.

noondip 11y ago
There's nothing wrong with starch (a complex carbohydrate of plant origin), nor its metabolization into sugar in the body. After all - sugar is the body's preferred energy source. A plain baked or boiled potato, especially sweet potato, is actually quite a healthful food. Just ask the traditional Okinawans, the longest living cohort documented. Now, this is definitely not a recommendation to eat McShit's, but your fear should be directed at the oil (fat) the fries are coated in, as well as the added salt, added sugar, and deep frying method of cooking.
- eveningcoffee 11y ago
  There's nothing wrong with starch (a complex carbohydrate of plant origin), nor its metabolization into sugar in the body. Starch, for example, is a polymer of glucose units and is typically broken down to glucose. The most important carbohydrate is glucose, a simple sugar (monosaccharide) that is metabolized by nearly all known organisms. Doctors and scientists once believed that eating complex carbohydrates instead of sugars would help maintain lower blood glucose. Numerous studies suggest, however, that both sugars and starches produce an unpredictable range of glycemic and insulinemic responses. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_metabolism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbohydrate_metabolism