After years of being told we should av
oid it, sugar’s
staging a bit of a comeback, with some experts
saying it isn’t all bad. We inv
estigate...
back on ThE mEnu?hEmIs sugarB
ack in 2013, an anti-sugar video by childhood
obesity expert Dr Robert Lustig went viral –
Lustig called sugar a ‘poison’, comparing its
addictive potential to hard drugs and linking
it with the obesity epidemic. Since then,
wellness experts have preached the importance of
avoiding the sweet stuff. There’s no doubt excess sugar is
bad news – since 1990, our intake has risen by 31%, partly
because sugar’s used so widely in foods from yogurts to
ready meals – and rates of obesity, diabetes and heart
disease have also soared. But now, some nutritionists
are saying the anti-sugar message has got out of hand.the one to watch
While some bloggers and writers advise
avoiding too much fruit due to its natural
sugar content, nutritionist Rob Hobson
dismisses this. ‘It’s impossible to avoid
natural sugar in a healthy diet – vegetables
contain it, too,’ he says. Instead, you need to
avoid ‘free sugar’ – anything added to food
during preparation, by you or a manufacturer.