Written by: Wang Bin | Editor-in-Chief: Lily of the Valley | Picture: Huang Tsai
As the saying goes: Water is the source of life, and water is indispensable in life, especially drinking water. But boiled water is colorless and tasteless. Although it can quench thirst, it cannot achieve psychological satisfaction. At this time, drinks came into being.
There are a variety of beverages on the market, including carbonated beverages, tea beverages, energy beverages, etc. They are already necessities of life for many young people. It’s okay to have a bottle, and the vitality will come back~
But you also know that most beverages contain far more sugar than your body needs. Since consuming too much sugar is not good for health, major brand manufacturers are also consciously playing the health card, and the logos of “0 sugar” and “sugar free” on the bottle are particularly prominent. But are “sugar-free” beverages really healthy?
Today, we will invite Mr. Wang Bin, a nutritionist, to tell you about “If you must drink a drink, how to drink it to be healthy”, interested friends Let’s keep reading~
The importance of water to the human body
Speaking of drinking beverages, let’s first talk about the importance of water to the human body:
Water is a major component of bodily fluids and maintains normal metabolism in the body.
As we all know, water is an important substance that constitutes cells, tissue fluid, plasma, etc., and participates in regulating the acid-base balance in the body. Drinking water properly in daily life can ensure healthy metabolism.
Water is a solvent for various nutrients.
The various nutrients in the human body can only be absorbed and utilized when they are in a colloidal state suspended in water.
Water is a carrier for transporting substances while promoting the excretion of metabolic wastes from the body.
Many biochemical metabolisms in our body are carried out in a liquid environment, and water is a key medium for the transportation of various nutrients and substances, and plays a role in lubrication between various organs. At the same time, drinking water properly can also increase the amount of urine, so that many metabolic wastes in the body are excreted with the urine.
Water regulates body temperature.
Water maintains body temperature within a suitable constant range. Because the effect of water on body temperature regulation is very obvious, other “added value” brought by beverages is not necessary for “water” for human needs, but may also be detrimental to human health.
What is the “sugar” ingredient added to beverages?
Understanding the importance of water to the human body, let’s talk about beverages. The most important thing about the popularity of the drink is undoubtedly its sweet taste, and the main element that forms this taste is “sugar”.
Which ingredients are essentially sugar, and drinking them is no different from drinking sugar?
People generally think that sugar is white sugar, brown sugar, brown sugar, brown sugar and rock sugar, but what most people don’t know is that there are many types of free sugars and a wide range of applications. Free sugar is an artificially purified and transformed sugar that is in an “unnatural” state, so be wary when you see the names below in your beverage’s ingredient list!
Such as: castor sugar, caramel, maple syrup, fructose, glucose, starch syrup, maltose syrup, glucose syrup, high fructose syrup, corn syrup, maltodextrin, honey, fruit juice, syrup , fruit concentrates and other ingredients, they all contain sugar.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published guidelines on sugar intake for adults and children, which strongly recommend that people limit free sugars for life. For both adults and children, it is recommended to limit free sugar intake to less than 10% of total daily energy intake, and ideally to limit it further to less than 5%.
So, how many grams are “10%” and “5%”?
According to the average daily intake of 2000 kcal of energy from the diet of an adult man, 10% of the total energy is 200 kcal, which is converted into 50 grams of sugar, and the optimal state 5%The following is less than 25 grams of sugar, that is, do not add sugar to food unless it is necessary.
Which ingredients are sugar substitutes, sweet substitutes?
In modern life, people are more and more pursuing health, so merchants have gradually introduced sugar substitute foods, which is to maintain the sweetness that food should have,
strong>Replace traditional “sweeteners” in foods with “sugar substitutes”.
Sugar substitute is a type of sugar that can produce sweet taste. Unlike traditional sugar, it is super low in calories, and sugar substitute can make our brain perceive sweetness, but not too much Can cause fluctuations in blood sugar levels.
So, does sugar substitute really not have the same effect on the human body as sugar? Are sugar substitutes really completely harmless?
Let’s first understand the classification of sugar substitutes:
Sugar substitutes are divided into natural substitutes, sugar alcohols and artificial substitutes.
Natural sugar substitutes are generally extracted from plants, and the name often bears the name of the extracted plant or fruit.
Sugar alcohols are either natural or processed from sugars, mainly sugar substitutes obtained after sugar fermentation or hydrogenation. Sugar alcohols are difficult to be absorbed by the human body, so the glycemic index is low, but the sweetness can be similar to sugar. It is precisely because it is not easily absorbed, the unabsorbed sugar alcohol will enter the large intestine through the small intestine, and use its super hydrophilic properties to “bind” a large number of water molecules, thereby increasing the intestinal content. Osmotic pressure stimulates intestinal motility, which can easily lead to “diarrhea”.
Therefore, in the United States and other countries, it is required to indicate on the label of the added food that when the daily consumption exceeds a certain amount (depending on the type of sugar alcohol), it should be marked with “Excessive amount can be cause laxatives”. Some sugar alcohols, such as sorbitol and maltitol, can also cause gas and bloating when ingested too much at one time; but some (such as erythritol) do not produce gas after eating because they do not participate in metabolism. .
Artificial sugar substitutes, also known as artificial sweeteners (AS), are generally chemically modified or synthesized chemical substances with sweet taste. Due to their high sweetness, less dosage and low price, especially their excellent characteristics of not participating in metabolism and providing no calories, they are widely used in food production processes. At present, there are 9 kinds of artificial sweeteners allowed in my country, which can be applied to more than a dozen categories of food and beverages.
Among the above three sugar substitutes, the most controversial harmful is artificial sugar substitutes.
What are the hazards of artificial sugar substitutes to the human body?
Nervous system disorders
Animal and human experiments have shown that artificial sugar substitutes can affect neurobehavior and function. Experiments showed that people consuming high levels of aspartame showed greater irritability, depression, and poor performance on cognitive tests of spatial orientation. Therefore, it is necessary to control the intake of artificial sugar substitutes to avoid long-term cumulative intake.
Metabolic disorders
Different from obesity caused by excessive intake of high-calorie sugar, replacing sugar with artificial sugar will trigger the compensation mechanism of the neuron system. In short, although you have fooled the taste buds , but the body is not getting the energy it deserves (blood sugar and insulin secretion are not at the same level), resulting in a craving for more energy.
Genotoxicity
Relevant in vitro experiments have shown that artificial sugar substitutes cause DNA damage and are genotoxic.
Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases
Long-term consumption of large amounts of beverages containing artificial sugar substitutes increases the risk of stroke and dementia.
Liver damage and cancer
Experiments in rats show that long-term intake of artificial sugar substitutes can lead to the imbalance of redox state in liver tissue, which may cause liver cancer. However, current evidence from human studies has not found that artificial sugar substitutes increase cancer risk.
In addition, from the current research, there is still a lack of evidence that replacing free sugar with any kind of sugar substitute can have a preventive effect on various chronic diseases in the human body, such as obesity. Just from the characteristics of sweeteners, it has very few calories and does not raise blood sugar levels.
In short, although artificial sugar substitutes are not an “artifact” that allows us to enjoy sweets and sweet drinks unscrupulously, various national food safety bureaus have approved the use of artificial sugar substitutes in food according to standards, which means that Reasonable and compliant use of artificial sugar substitutes is beneficial to human healthKang will not cause harm, after all, talking about toxicity without the dose is a hooligan.
What are the health effects of drinking more beverages
If there are other ingredients in beverages that are harmful to human health if eaten for a long time, and you need to pay attention to avoid them when choosing, it must be that the manufacturer is trying to improve the quality and color, aroma, taste, preservative, and antiseptic properties of food. Food additives that are chemically synthesized in food as required by the processing technology.
Color: One of the major sensory indicators of food, it can increase people’s psychological pleasure and stimulate people’s appetite. Therefore, there is a pigment, which refers to a food additive that can be eaten in moderation and can change the original color of the food to a certain extent.
It can be divided into natural pigments (beta-carotene, cocoa shell color, turmeric, monascus red, etc.) and artificial pigments (sunset yellow, lemon yellow, carmine, allura red, bright blue, indigo, etc.). Synthetic pigments will accelerate the loss of nutrients such as zinc in the body.
Fragrance: For various raw materials of processed food, more than half of their original aroma will be volatilized during processing, not to mention that most of the raw materials themselves are tasteless. It is difficult to produce a pleasant aroma with these substances. Therefore, people use the method of adding flavor or fragrance to make up for this defect.
Fragrance is also divided into natural flavors (completely natural substances extracted from natural animals and plants through physical methods)and synthetic flavors< /strong> (as long as one of the raw materials in the essence is artificially synthesized). It has the characteristics of small dosage and volatile, so the safety is higher than other food additives, but the disadvantage is that it will passivate the sense of taste.
There are also carbonated beverages that everyone likes. They are very high in phosphoric acid. Excessive intake of phosphorus can affect calcium absorption and the utilization of minerals such as iron, manganese and zinc. interference. Additionally, excessive consumption of carbonated beverages is suspected to increase the risk of osteoporosis, but there is no solid evidence.
Tips for choosing healthy drinks
Simply, choose a drink with a simple ingredient list.
First tier: No added water.
Boiled water, mineral water, distilled water, etc. are included here.
Second Tier: Unsweetened tea, coffee and other beverages.
It is recommended that adults consume no more than 400 mg of caffeine per day and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should consume no more than 300 mg per day.
Third tier: Skim milk, plain soy milk or unsweetened plant milk and other beverages.
Milk can supplement calcium and high-quality protein, and plant milk such as soy milk can supplement protein.
The fourth tier: natural beverages.
Includes pure fruit juice, vegetable juice, whole milk. However, the amount of such beverages should be controlled to avoid the problem of excessive energy intake.
Tier 5: Drinks fortified with certain nutrients.
Includes: sports drinks, vitamin-fortified drinks, and more.
Sixth Tier: High-sugar beverages not recommended.
Including: cola, sprite, blending juice, etc.
The Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents recommends that adults drink about 1.5-1.7 liters of water per day. Of course, if you exercise a lot, or your physical condition is different, the amount of water you drink will also vary. For example, you may need to drink more water depending on the amount and color of your pee, such as exercising regularly, being outdoors, the weather is hot, or if you are sick with a fever.
Seeing this, how many girls who love drinks silently put down the drinks in their hands? The benefits of “drink more hot water” in the mouths of straight men seem to add another scientific proof. Of course, if we learn to drink healthy beverages, our taste and mind will be satisfied, and our body will not be affected, wouldn’t it be better!
If you think this article is helpful, please forward it to your friends and relatives to remind everyone to drink healthy drinks~ Or click Like and Follow strong>, is the greatest encouragement to us!
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References
[1] Gu Jingfan, Du Shouping. “Modern Clinical Nutrition Second Edition” [M]. Science Press. 2009-01-03.
[2] China Nutrition Association. “Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016)” [M]. People’s Health Publishing House. 2016-05-13.