In today's increasingly stressful life, eating sugar can be said to be the easiest way to obtain a sense of happiness, studies have shown that sweetness can stimulate our brain to produce more serotonin and dopamine, they have the function of regulating emotions, can make people feel happy.
But eating too much sugar will not only get some happiness, but also lead to obesity, acne, caries, diabetes and a series of other diseases.
Therefore, in order to let everyone eat sweets with confidence, many merchants have launched a series of products such as 0 sugar, sugar-free, sugar substitutes, etc., but are these 0 sugar foods really healthier?
(Source: Figureworm Creative)
The so-called sugar-free, 0 sugar is not a little sugar meaning, according to the national "General Rules for The Nutrition Label of Prepackaged Food", as long as the sugar content per 100g or 100ml in solid or liquid food is not higher than 0.5%, it can be called sugar-free, 0-sugar products.
But the sugar content is too low and will affect the sweetness, so the merchant will add sweeteners to some 0 sugar foods, which is sugar substitutes, such as acesulfame potassium, aspartame, cyclamate, saccharin, sugar alcohol, etc., all belong to sugar substitutes.
The role of "sugar substitutes" is to replace sugar to produce sweetness, but do not produce the harmful effects of sugar on the body, they are almost not absorbed by the human body, or only partially absorbed, do not produce heat, or only produce a little heat.
(Erythritol in a 0 sugar drink is a kind of sugar substitute / Source: shoot it yourself)
From this point of view, compared to ordinary added sugar food, sugar-free food is indeed more friendly in terms of calories, but many merchants will play word games, "no sucrose" and "no added sugar" as "sugar-free" to deceive consumers, so when buying something, do not fully believe what it claims, to develop the habit of looking at the ingredient list and nutrition facts list.
If the food ingredient list contains glucose, fructose, maltose syrup, glucose syrup, fructose syrup, concentrated fruit juice, honey, dried fruit, etc., the sugar content of the product is not low.
In addition, even sugar-free foods should be consumed in moderation, and studies have shown that the risk of gaining weight may be higher with long-term intake of artificial sweeteners. This is mainly because artificial sweeteners are deceptive to the body, and although it is extremely low in energy, it interferes with normal metabolism, increases appetite, never alters the gut microbiome, and ultimately leads to obesity.
In short, whether it is "sugar-free", "0 sugar" or "low-sugar" food, it is necessary to control the intake, especially for patients with insufficient gastrointestinal function, diabetes and hypertension, such as mooncakes, cakes and the like, which contain a lot of starch, taste it, do not be greedy ~