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Beware of hidden sugars in food!

We know that eating too much sugar is bad for your health. So sweets, ice cream, desserts, sodas, yes, but in moderation. What is less known, however, is that a food or dish does not necessarily need to taste sweet to contain sugars. This is revealed by the magazine 60 Millions de Consommateurs in its number 517 with the file “Hidden sugars, the overdose! .

According to the WHO, daily sugar requirements are less than 10% of total energy intake, the magazine recalls. That is about 50 g for an adult, or even rather 25 g if we pay attention to his dental health and his weight. The problem? On average, we swallow rather 100 g of sugar per day in France. Fructose, glucose, maltose or even sucrose… sugar is present in many forms (basically, all the names that end in “ose” on the label) and in many everyday products. The interest of sugars in salty foods? They allow better preservation and improve the appearance (texture, color) and taste of the food.

Among the bad students, 60 Million Consumers pinpoints aperitifs (peanuts, savory crackers, etc.), sauces (mayo, salad sauce), charcuterie (white ham, merguez, etc.), pizzas, flavored yogurts, ice creams or drinks (to be found in a guide analyzing 192 supermarket products). And underlines in passing the danger of sugary drinks:because they are liquid, they make us ingest a large quantity of sugars (even for the stevia versions) without filling us up. Result:we are just as hungry at the next meal except that we have already exploded the sugar counter.

But really, what's wrong with consuming sugars all day? This causes strong variations in glycaemia (the level of sugar in the blood) and the pancreas is constantly stressed. Worse:sugar makes you fat and the accumulation of fat in the abdomen reduces the efficiency of the organs to use glucose in the blood. A vicious circle… And sugar can also create a very strong addiction, from which 5 to 10% of people suffer today (according to the study “Addiction, compulsion and dopaminergic dysregulation syndrome” carried out at the University of Bordeaux).

Clearly, reducing your consumption of sugary products is good, but you are also careful not to eat foods containing hidden sugars...