China News Service, April 26 (Reporter Zhang Ni) The intake of sugar is closely related to health. In recent years, the launch of a series of "zero sugar" and "sugar reduced" foods has been favored by many consumers.
Are "Zero-Sugar" Foods Good for Your Health?
Will "sugar substitute" intake affect the body?
At a seminar held in Beijing a few days ago, authoritative experts gave the answer.
Are "sugar substitutes" healthy?
On the 22nd, the "2022 Wudaokou Food Salon · 'Three Reductions' High-level Seminar on Sugar Reduction" hosted by the Food and Drug Industry Development and Supervision Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences was held in Beijing.
At the meeting, Yang Yuexin, chairman of the Chinese Nutrition Society, introduced that the intake of sugar should be within a reasonable range. Less than 10% of dietary energy.
The "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (2016)" recommends that the daily intake of added sugar in China should not exceed 50g, and it is best to control it below 25g.
But "sugar reduction" isn't one size fits all.
Yang Yuexin emphasized that sugar has two sides, and unnecessary and excessive sugar intake should be avoided.
She said that the human desire for sweetness cannot go away, and another product that can provide sweetness, sugar substitutes, came into being, that is, low/zero-calorie sweeteners.
The definition of low/zero-calorie sweeteners in the "National Food Safety Standard for the Use of Food Additives" is: a class of food additives that can impart sweetness to food but produce less or no energy.
In layman's terms, it is a kind of substance with higher sweetness, satisfying the feeling of sweetness, basically no energy or low energy sweetener, which also brings convenience to people who need to reduce sugar and control sugar.
Shi Wenhui, a researcher at the National Action Office of the National Healthy Lifestyle Action, believes that some consumers just like sweetness. From the perspective of reducing sugar intake, sugar substitutes are an option.
In this regard, Chen Wei, deputy director and chief physician of the Nutrition Department of Peking Union Medical College Hospital, also said that in daily life, the choice of sugar-sweetened foods and sugar-sweetened beverages should be minimized.
He emphasized that in addition to reducing the intake of refined sugar, sugar substitute products can also produce some health benefits: for example, compared with the same amount of intake of sucrose, it can also reduce the incidence of dental caries, delay the decline in quality of life; regulate intestinal bacteria group etc.
Although some studies have shown that sugar-free foods made from sugar substitutes may have some burden on the body if consumed in excess, in general, sugar-free beverages are a better choice than sugar-sweetened beverages under the same conditions.
Food companies welcome the opportunity of "sugar reduction", what else do they have to do?
Sugar substitutes provide a new option for "sugar reduction". So, are there relevant national food safety standards for sugar substitutes?
Fang Haiqin, deputy director of the Nutrition Office of the National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment and member of the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Expert Committee, introduced that the sweetener (sugar substitute) products approved for use in my country have undergone strict risk assessment. There are about 20 kinds, such as aspartame, acesulfame potassium, saccharin, sodium cyclamate, sucralose, erythritol and steviol glycosides, all of which have a long history of safe use.
Therefore, it is safe to use sweeteners as standard.
Chen Wei also said that as a sugar substitute product currently on the market, whether it is a natural or synthetic product, there are those with low energy or basically no energy, as long as they are in the list of additives approved by the state and meet the requirements of the addition amount. , should be safe.
"Sugar reduction" and "sugar replacement" are the embodiment of scientific and technological progress in the food industry.
Duan Shenglin, vice president of the China Food and Fermentation Industry Research Institute, believes that the impact of science and technology on the food field is growing, and "sugar reduction" is becoming an important field in the field of food research.
He believes that the "Healthy China" initiative is a powerful measure to deal with the substantial increase in chronic diseases in my country.
From the perspective of food R&D and production, food R&D and production should take the initiative to consider and meet the special needs of chronic patients for food.
Faced with the significant increase in the public's awareness and demand for eating nutritiously, scientifically and healthy, food research and development and production need more scientific and technological support to provide more and better food for chronic patients.
Regarding the development of the industry, the participating experts also emphasized that the food industry should be guided by consumer demand and consumer interests, and under the support of national food safety standards, do a good job in scientific and technological innovation in food research and development, and bring sugar reduction to consumers without reducing happiness. of good life.
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