The unsweetened truth about diabetes
“Eating too much sugar causes diabetes.” How many times have you heard of this misinformation?
Well, here’s the truth. Sugar is actually not a direct cause of diabetes. It is only when we consume an excess amount of sugar, that we are providing our body with unwanted, excess calories. This increases the risk of one being overweight or obese, which in turn leads to an increased risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes.
Other risk factors of diabetes
We now know that being overweight or obese will increase the risk of diabetes. But is that all to it? You
may also be at risk for type 2 diabetes if you have pre-diabetes, are 45 years or older, have a family
history of diabetes, lead a sedentary lifestyle or ever had gestational diabetes.
Although some
risk factors are non-modifiable, we can work on certain risk factors that are modifiable, such as our diet
and lifestyle. These can be improved to lower our overall risk of diabetes. For overweight or obese
individuals, the good news is that they can lower their risk of diabetes by 58% if they lose 7% of their
body weight (Hamman et al., 2006). This is imperative as diabetes is one of the leading causes of kidney
failure.
Not associated with adverse outcomes
Increased risk of diabetes, obesity and tooth decay
Not all sugars are created equal
Sugars can be categorised as “free” and natural sugar. “Free” sugar refers to syrup and juice concentrates
added to foods and is associated with an increased risk of being overweight or obese. Hence we should be
consuming less of it, as it does not provide any nutritive value and is just a source
of empty
calories. On the other hand, natural sugar from fruits, vegetables and dairy products are not associated
with adverse outcomes. So, not all sugars are necessarily bad!
The limit for daily sugar intake is 5 teaspoons of sugar, as advised by the World Health Organisation. However, Singaporeans are consuming an average of 12 teaspoons of sugar per day, which is more than twice the limit!
