Sugar is one of the poisons we are most dependent on and even in children it would be advisable not to abuse it in their diet, as demonstrated by this experiment that tried to eliminate them for 10 days from the diet of obese children aged 9 to 18 years.
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Overweight or obese children? Ban it XNUMX/XNUMX cup sugar from their diet! Sugar is metabolically harmful, especially for toddlers who already have some problems with kilos to dispose of.
This crystalline substance is not considered essential in our diet as it only provides "empty calories" that is, it gives us energy, but no nutrients unlike carbohydrates such as fruits, vegetables, cereals or legumes which offer us both.
Not surprisingly, for a few years now, the WHO, the World Health Organization, has revised the daily sugar intake limits recommending not to exceed 10% of the total daily calories (about 50 grams of sugar for women and 70 for men), although it recommends staying within 5% or about 25 grams of sugar per day. (A can of Coca Cola, just to give an example, contains about 30/40 g).
Exceed these thresholds of XNUMX/XNUMX cup sugar, as shown by many studies, it poses a great threat to health by causing metabolic diseases - diabetes in the first place - and heart disease, as well as being one of the main causes of weight gain.
And the study by the University of California was a further confirmation: eliminating sugar added to the diet of obese children in just 10 days, in fact, there was a marked improvement in blood pressure and cholesterol.
The research was directed by Dr. Robert Lustig, pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California and author of the book "Fat Chance: the hidden truth about sugar" in which he demonstrates how the health of 43 obese children being treated in his clinic and taken as a sample for the investigations would have known improvements by the time lo sugar in their diet had been replaced with starchy foods and more. And it must be said that the children who participated in the study were between the ages of 9 and 18 and were hospitalized due to their weight and related diseases, such as high blood pressure.
The experiment
For 9 days, the children were given only food prepared by the hospital. The addition of sugar in their diet was reduced from 28% to 10% and fructose from 12% to 4% of the total calories consumed by the children. Sugary foods have been replaced by less-than-healthy starchy foods like hot dogs, pizza and chips. After nine days, most of the children's metabolic disturbances subsided. Diastolic blood pressure dropped, as did fasting triglyceride and blood glucose levels, and insulin levels, which fell by at least a third.
How did the scientific world react to this study? Not really good and many experts aren't entirely convinced:
“In my opinion the results are not convincing. This is a small study and it hasn't been statistically well verified, ”said Naveed Sattar, professor of metabolic medicine at the University of Glasgow, adding that when people are losing weight, even if only a little, their metabolic changes may seem more bigger than they really are. This means that results should at least be seen once the patient returns to his usual diet after the diet.
In addition, and we add it, in the experiments of American scholars, foods containing sugar have been replaced with others such as hot dogs, pizza and chips. Well, we have a hard time, and now more than ever, to think that this other form of food has not affected, even minimally, the organism of already obese children.
The secret told between us? Guarantee your little ones a healthy and balanced diet and as varied as possible, also give them French fries (preferably homemade), while a candy once in a while will never hurt! But always trying to limit sugary drinks and packaged foods as much as possible from an early age.
On sugar, you may also be interested in:
- What Really Happens to Your Body When You Get Added, Free Sugar (and Why Limit It Now)
- Sugar: just take it out for a month to see these 9 amazing benefits right away
- Do you have a sugar addiction? 10 signs to recognize it and how to fight it
- Hidden sugars: Watch out for these foods you consume every day. The nutritionist's advice to "find" them on the label
- Unsuspected "healthy" foods that contain more sugar than a glazed donut
- How much sugar can we take per day so as not to cause health problems? Even scientists cannot agree
- 10 healthy, self-made snacks to take to school
- Too much sugar in Kellog's cereals
