As India becomes the world’s biggest sugar consumer, there are health issues which may take serious turn, warns Dr Rekha Sharma
Our Indian diet consists of foods that are rich in carbohydrates, such as white rice, potato, white bread, sugary snacks and beverages. Even though sweet or starchy carbohydrates provide energy to the body, their excess consumption can lead to heart problems, obesity, diabetes, tooth decay, metabolic disorders, nutritional deficiencies and even cancer.
One of the most worrisome carbohydrates that we have begun to consume more than we should is sugar. Over the last five decades, sugar consumption in India has risen from five per cent of the global production to 13 per cent now. India has become the world’s biggest sugar consumer today, consuming one-third more sugar than the entire EU and 60 per cent more than China! At around 20 kg, our per capita sugar consumption is still below the global average of 25 kg but is growing at a fast clip.
As Western food habits become popular, the proportion of processed and non-essential food items containing added sugar is going up in our diet. The traditional mithais have been replaced by chocolates and the quintessential sherbets by cold drinks. This is one of the main reasons driving the rise in our daily sugar intake. lack of physical activity and sedentary life styles are making it worse, leading to overweight and obesity, compounded with related disorders like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.
White sugar consists of merely empty calories with no vitamins or minerals. It does provide energy — about 16 calories per tea spoon — but offers none of the nutrition that our body needs. As a result, sugar addicts begin to suffer from hidden hunger. Though they eat food in enough quantity, their bodies become deficient in essential nutrients, which can over time lead to serious health disorders. In the US alone, health conditions triggered by excessive consumption of sugar have been linked to 35 million deaths every year.
Considering this record, some international scientists are now demanding that sugar be regulated in the same was as tobacco and alcohol. Sugar is actually as toxic to liver as alcohol, which is understandable since alcohol is derived from the fermentation of sugar. The increasing use of sugar is posing a serious threat to public health, these scientists argued in the February 2012 issue of the journal Nature.
Sugar is responsible for many diseases associated with the “metabolic syndrome” such as high blood pressure, diabetes, insulin resistance, excessive body fat, and high cholesterol levels, and may also speed up the ageing process.
Consuming a diet rich in white sugar and other refined carbohydrates forces the body to increase the production of insulin. Eventually, the body cells, receiving too much insulin daily to absorb the extra carbohydrates, develop insulin resistance. With this, blood sugar levels shoot up in the body. Many such people go on to develop Type 2 diabetes. Chronically high blood sugar levels put an enormous strain on the vascular system and damage the lining of arteries, making them thick and hard.
Experts say that while it is inadvisable to avoid sugar totally, its consumption should be kept below the threshold where it turns toxic for our bodies. The National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, recommends a sugar intake of not more than 20 to 25 grams per day for normal adults. To achieve this, one needs to avoid processed foods rich in sugar like soft drinks, sugary beverages like coffee and excessive over-the-table use of sugar. In fact, just one can of soft drink contains eight tea spoons of sugar, or 130 calories!
It is time to reduce our daily intake of refined carbohydrates, especially sugar. While obesity and related disorders are increasing in India, data shows a decline in the total per capita calorie intake of Indians over the past few years.
This is a clear indication that the cause of obesity is not merely an imbalance of nutrients but also a sedentary lifestyle. Our goal should be complete lifestyle management with healthy dietary concepts along with regular physical activity.
(The writer is the President of Indian Dietetic Association and former chief dietician of AIIMS)