Safe sweet tooth: How many candies can you eat daily without harming your health
Illustrative photo (Photo: freepik.com)
Excessive sugar consumption is harmful to health – that's no secret. Sugar leads to weight gain and overall feelings of discomfort. However, the body needs carbohydrates for energy, and sweets contain them the most. A piece of candy with tea or coffee allows for a moment of relaxation, provides a boost, and lifts spirits.
Wprost explains how much sugar can be consumed per day without fearing health problems.
How much sugar can be consumed per day
The body requires glucose, which serves as the primary fuel. However, to provide it, one should consume minimally processed foods like fruits.
The recommendations of the World Health Organization are very clear. Sugar should not constitute more than 10% of your daily energy intake.
Assuming an adult's caloric intake is 2000 calories, we should not consume more than 200 calories per day from sugar, which equates to 10 teaspoons of sugar, 4 marshmallows, 4 bonbons, or 4 candies.
But for our health, it's better to limit sugar intake to a maximum of 5 teaspoons. This example follows England's recommendation that sugar intake should not exceed 5% of the calorie intake. When calculating the total carbohydrate intake throughout the day, don't forget to consider products that contain hidden sugar.
Which products contain a lot of sugar
Sugar is hidden in most of the products we consume. Even if we don't add 1-2 teaspoons to our coffee or tea, we often unknowingly consume much more than recommended.
Here are a few examples of products with high sugar content:
- Bread
- Cereals
- Yogurts
- Flavored waters and other sweetened beverages
- Ketchup
- Tomato concentrate
- Cereal bars
- Soups made from semi-finished products, like tomato soup
- Sauces
- Fast food
- Ready-made fast-cooking meals
The consequences of excessive sugar consumption
Excessive sugar negatively affects the heart, liver, kidneys, pancreas, and intestines. It burdens the circulatory and nervous systems, causes metabolic disorders, insulin resistance, excessive weight gain, and obesity.
Studies clearly indicate that consuming less sugar leads to longer and healthier lives. An excess of sugar leads to changes in the brain, as confirmed by researchers from the University of Cologne and Yale University. The results of their analysis were published in the scientific journal Cell Metabolism and garnered significant interest worldwide.
It's said that when we consume fatty and sweet foods, numerous changes occur in our brains, creating new connections. These, in turn, prompt us to be more inclined to consume unhealthy sweet foods in the future, even if we previously didn't like them.
How to check if you're addicted to sweets?
It's easy to get addicted to sweet things. The regular consumption of indulgences is a form of mental disorder due to the similarity of symptoms that arise with addiction to psychoactive substances.
Certain symptoms may indicate that someone is accustomed to sweets. What? When addicts can't access their favorite treats, they become irritated, saddened, and blame their loved ones. They find it difficult to concentrate. They struggle with various emotions, from laughter to tears.
There is also a growing number of people who, over several weeks, can only eat sweets - chocolate in the morning, a chocolate bar at noon, cookies for lunch, donuts for dinner, along with snacks and sweet drinks. This is a very harmful influence that can lead to bodily degradation.
And we also discussed the tasty foods that can help you lose weight faster.
This material is for informational purposes only and should not be used for medical diagnosis or self-treatment. Our goal is to provide readers with accurate information about symptoms, causes, and methods of detecting diseases. RBС-Ukraine is not responsible for any diagnoses that readers may make based on materials from the resource. We do not recommend self-treatment and advise consulting a doctor in case of any health concerns.
