ALL ABOUT SWEETS
We cannot afford not to have sugar in our coffee, juice and milk. This is how important sugar to us. History tells us that our forefathers are using fruits and vegetables to blend their food while we used refined and brown sugar out from sugarcane.
Glucose is used as fuel by the body like sugar and carbohydrates. If processed the starch of the body is broken down into glucose. Eating starchy-food will help stabilize the blood sugar levels.
We consume an average of 14 pounds of sugar per year, more than 3/4 of a cup a day. Most of it are hidden sugars. Too much sugars are found in soft drinks and desserts.
Sweeteners are sugars manufactured in what we called conversion from sunlight to food. The plants have components of sugar. There are many kinds of them depending on the method of processing. The most common sweetener is white sugar. There are also sugars that can be found in sorghum, malt syrup, corn syrup, honey and molasses, There are other form of sweeteners taken from other sources like fructose, maltose, dextrose,and lactose.
There are production of synthetic sweeteners like saccharin, aspartame, sorbitol, xylitol, and mannitol. The purpose of using this kind of sweeteners is to give food and drinks a good taste. This sugars are widely known as additive in commercial production of candies, ice cream, salad dressings, canned soups, canned meat, frozen foods, fruit drinks, dairy products and thousand others.
Sugars has energy source. They are carbohydrates similar to what we found in fruits and vegetables. Fresh fruits are high in natural sugars, they won't strain the body's blood sugar mechanism if they are eaten with their natural fiber. Instead of eating foods laden with sugar, why not eat fruits. They are sweet too, full of fruit sugar. Our body can make sugar coming from the foods we eat. The only element that cannot be converted to sugar is fat. What are some of the disadvantages for too much use of sugars in our food?
-It can cause obesity because it is carbohydrates.
-It can cause tooth decay.
-Not good for diabetes. It can trigger a surge of insulin.
Why our tooth was affected when taking sugars? Because of the bacteria in our mouth that feed on sugar. This bacteria produced a substance that embedded in the inner layer of the teeth that later on build-up into a plaque harmful to its structure. The acid inside the mouth will collect the plaque and damage the teeth resulting to cavities. The degree of damage will depend on the frequency of taking sugars to the mouth.
This is how sugars can give us sweets and headache.
The next time you use sugar in your food, think twice. If possible, use it moderately. Learn to be satisfied in reduced quantity. It will fight against you if you abuse in using it improperly. Limit your intake based on the proportionate serving, an allowable portion only during the day. Drink enough water to cleanse it from the mouth to avoid tooth decay. Parents should be more responsible in giving their children any form of sugars that are harmful to their teeth. The teeth of the children can easily affected if given a sugar-laden candies, cookies, ice cream, chocolates and others.
