In recent times, sugar has been put out there as the baddie of the nutrition world. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, one major health issue with sugar is that it causes tooth decay. There has been a worrying increase in the number of children admitted into hospital with severe tooth decay. This can of course be prevented through limiting the consumption of sugar.
The second major health issue with sugar is that it makes us fat. Historically, nutritionists believed that consuming fat made us fat (seems logical) but more recent research has shown that some forms of sugar convert directly into fatty acids in the body, thus increasing the amount of fat stored.
Ways of reducing the amount of sugar consumed are:
· Check labels on food religiously – make sure that there is not too much sugar listed
· Swap things like sweets and chocolate for natural snacks like fruit and nuts
· Switch to sugar free versions of foods and drinks, like diet drinks and no added sugar jelly.