Read the label for Sugar!

The amount of sugar contained within our most popular breakfast cereals, has been brought to the public’s attention.  Analysis by the Obesity Policy Coalition reported in the papers show that four of the 10 most popular children’s cereals contain more than 30% sugar.  That means that in a 100g serving there are eight teaspoons of sugar. The guidelines for consumption of added sugars are for no more than 10% for someone who is not overweight. The World Health Organisation recommends less than 5% of sugar, for “additional health benefits”. In other words to minimise the risk of obesity, heart disease and some cancers this is the target that we should be adopt. It demonstrates again how the healthy diet image, we are sold, may be not so healthy and we need to be vigilant  and read the ingredients on the label to tell what we are ingesting. We know what  sugar does to our teeth and its contribution to the risk for decay but if that energy isn’t used for motion our body converts it to fat and it adds to the risk of obesity and diabetes.