It is known that today’s diet is much less healthy than that of a few centuries ago. We are inundated with junk food and sugars are everywhere.
According to a study conducted in United Kingdomis there a link between the consumption of so-called free sugars and heart disease. What does it mean? It means that if you exceed the dose obtained by a precise percentage, you even risk your life.
By free sugars we mean those sugars that are added to the recipebut those shouldn’t be underestimated either naturally present in honey and fruit juices. They are called “free” because they are not compensated by the presence of fibers and therefore they enter our body more easily. They should be severely limited, because their excessive consumption is not good for our health. Recent research, published in BMC Medicine, highlighted the impact of free sugars on cardiovascular health
The research of the study in question it was based on data from the UK Biobank and involved more than 110,000 people who had completed at least two dietary assessments. The investigators monitored the participants for more than 9 years, concluding that total cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke combined), heart disease, and stroke occurred in 4,188, 3,138, and 1,124 participants. Scholars have established that “Higher intake of sugar-free foods such as sugary drinks, fruit juices, and sweets was associated with an increased risk of all outcomes of cardiovascular disease.”
The percentage of sugars not to be exceeded
At this point it is clear that particular attention must be paid to the quality, rather than the quantity of sugar consumed because every 5% increase in total energy intake from free sugars led to a 7% increase in cardiovascular disease. This means that a change of course on the global diet is necessary and that the consumption of free sugars must be reduced below 5% of total daily energy.
Instead, we can play it safe with unfree sugars, which as the experts have explained are “those found naturally in whole fruits and vegetables – and higher fiber intake may help protect against cardiovascular disease.”
At this point we just have to think about our eating habits. As read on greenme.it the nutritionist Mark Ciambotta suggested eliminating sugar from packaged foods and choosing foods that contain it less than 6 grams of sugar per 100 grams. From this we can exclude honey (or maple syrup), jam and dark chocolate at least 85%.