Diet gun

The World Health Organization guideline for the intake of free sugars (monosaccharides such as glucose and fructose and disaccharides such as sugar, added to foods by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices) in adults and children is to reduce it to less than 10% of total energy intake, while reducing it to less than 5% of total energy intake would provide additional health benefits.

Intrinsic sugars, found in whole fresh fruits and vegetables, are different from free sugars and do not fall within this WHO guideline.

The average person usually consumes much more free sugars than this limit, through coffee, sweets, packaged snacks, sugary drinks, breakfast cereals, sauces, juices and fitness bars.

In a 2300 calorie diet, 5% of total calories if consumed from free sugars is 115 calories, or 5.5 teaspoons of sugar per day (1 teaspoon of sugar contains approximately 5 grams of sugar).

In a 1700 calorie diet, 5% of total calories if consumed from free sugars is 85 calories, or 4 teaspoons of sugar per day.

In a 1200 calorie diet (quite common calories for a diet for women) 5% of total calories if consumed from free sugars is 60 calories, or 3 teaspoons of sugar per day.

It is known that sugar offers “empty calories” without nutrients, so systematically exceeding this daily limit increases the risk of diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, cardiovascular diseases, early childhood obesity, and possible cancer.

Obesity and chronic overeating have both a positive correlation and a causal link with the development of cancer cells. Obesity causes changes in hormone levels, such as sex hormones or insulin, which increase the risk of developing cancer (mainly breast, colon, uterine).

Sugar and cancer

Insulin is the hormone that enters glucose into cells.

If glucose levels are high in the body, the high concentration of insulin that will also be secreted in large quantities in the body to be able to put glucose into cells, activates cell growth, the creation and proliferation of normal or cancer cells.

While some amount of insulin is normal for the body, excessive insulin makes fertile ground for the growth of cancer cells.

Cancer cells can and do absorb 10-12 times more sugar than healthy cells, which means they grow more when the body produces too much insulin because we eat too much sugar.

We should not consume sugar or free sugars often because it does not offer the body anything more than taste and the release of dopamine in the brain, giving us a feeling of pleasure. We can also do other activities that can naturally increase our dopamine, such as exercise.

Let’s limit our sugar consumption to have better health in the long term.
Balance is always the best for our body.