Basic HTML Version
November 11, 2012
HEALTHY LIFE: DIABETES
15
and glucose almost 50-50.”
If you eat enough of any sugary
substance, your body will have a
hard time absorbing it.
“Having a large amount of sugar,
whether your Mountain Dew is
sweetened with high-fructose corn
syrup or regular sugar, the fact
that you’re giving your body that
much sugar at once is the trouble,”
Hornbeck explained. “If you get too
much sugar at one time, then the
liver has to actually process it.
That can cause a lot of health is-
sues.”
The overload can eventually lead
to fatty deposits in your liver and
more insulin resistance, a sort of
precursor to Type 2 diabetes, she
said. Yet refined sugar isn’t only
contained in the obvious products
like candy bars and syrupy sodas.
It hides in all sorts of processed
foods, from cereal and yogurt to
salad dressings and ketchup.
“There’s probably a big lack of
awareness of how much sugar is in
things,” Hornbeck said.
The American Heart Association
recommends limiting daily sugar
consumption to about six tea-
spoons — about 100 calories worth
of sugar — for most women. For
most men, the guideline is a maxi-
mum of about nine teaspoons, or
about 150 calories worth, of sugar
each day.
How does that compare to com-
mon snacks, according to the
heart association? A typical can of
soda has 132 calories added from
sugar. A six-ounce portion of non-
fat fruit yogurt typically provides
about 77 calories worth of sugar. A
plain chocolate candy bar typical-
ly has about the same amount of
sugar-based calories as an indi-
vidual container of yogurt: 77.
Changing industry tactics have
made it harder to track how much
sugar is in many foods, Hornbeck
noted, suggesting consumers ana-
lyze ingredient labels to see how
much sugar is added to what
they’re eating.
“Everyone is changing the name
of sugar in their labeling,” she
said. “Evaporated cane juice makes
it sound really fancy and natural,
but really it’s sugar. Some prod-
ucts will have two or three types of
sweetener in them.”
That said, less refined versions
— those closer to their whole-food,
naturally occurring counterparts
— do offer some advantages, par-
ticularly sweeteners that absorb
more slowly into the bloodstream.
Agave nectar, extracted from the
core of agave plants, is the slowest
to process, Hornbeck said.
Choosing options with a lower
glycemic index can reduce the bur-
den on your body because they’re
processed more slowly, and that
can also help ward off the sugar
high — or crash — that can be
brought on by spiking blood sugar
levels.
Another benefit of options with
a lower glycemic index? “If you al-
ready have insulin resistance, pre-
diabetes or diabetes, the slower
the release of glucose in the blood-
stream, the easier it is for insulin
to store it where the body can actu-
ally use it for fuel,” Hornbeck said.
Eating more fiber and fat when
consuming sugar can also help
slow down the digestion process,
she said. In addition, she some-
times recommends combining
naturally derived sweeteners with
artificial substitutes.
The Food and Drug Administra-
tion has deemed a handful of popu-
lar artificial sweeteners safe for
consumption — including products
made from the stevia plant, “prob-
ably the most natural of the artifi-
cial sweeteners because it does
come from the leaf of a bush,”
Hornbeck said. Still, she prefers
naturally derived sweeteners in
most cases, especially because the
jury is still out on the long-term
health effects of many chemically
produced sweeteners.
“I guess that’s where I get a little
bit nervous,” she said. “Maybe it’s
the purist in me — I know it came
from a plant vs. something that
was manufactured in a lab.
Regardless, she added: “I coun-
sel people to use small amounts;
the less processed the sweetener,
the better.”
Even sweeteners that process
slowly can pose health conse-
quences when they aren’t con-
sumed in moderation, because
they still increase your blood sug-
ar.
“My philosophy is it’s OK to use
a little,” Hornbeck said. “You just
want to be conscious about how
many things you’re consuming that
have added sugar or that you’re
adding sugar to. ... The body can
deal with sugar and process it nor-
mally like it would other carbohy-
drates. It’s just when you get a
large dose at one time that it causes
problems.”
■
From page 14
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: JAIME VALDEZ
Katelyn Killbury reads the label on one of the many sugar and substitute sweetener products now available at New Season’s Market at Progress Ridge.
PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP: JAIME VALDEZ
Many stores now dedicate an entire section of an aisle to sweetener products.
Experts say not to be dazzled by the word “organic” or the various aliases of
sugar, because most sugar is processed the same way in our bodies.