0 sugar 0 calories 0 fat drinks are healthier? The truth may not be that simple...

Expert of this article: Liu Jingjing, PhD in Food Biotechnology, China Agricultural University

Nowadays, there are a wide variety of beverages on the market.

Products like sugar-free, 0 calories, or even 0 sugar, 0 calories, and 0 fat are very popular among people who are afraid of getting fat.

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However, a study found that when drinking carbonated drinks, more people are obese and have diabetes when drinking sugar-free drinks.

Why does eating sugar-free make you fatter? Does sugar-free mean 0 calories? Let me explain it to you today.

What does “sugar-free” actually mean?

"Sugar-free" only limits the sugar content in food, not that it contains no sugar.

According to my country's national food safety standards, sugar-free food refers to food that contains no more than 0.5 grams of sugar per 100 grams of solid or 100 milliliters of liquid.

The "sugar" mentioned in the standard is not just the well-known white sugar, but mainly refers to carbohydrates such as monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose), disaccharides (sucrose, lactose, maltose) and polysaccharides (cellulose, plant starch and animal glycogen).

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Many people still think that sugar-free = 0 calories. In fact, there is a big difference between the two. 0 calories means zero calories.

Calorie is a unit of energy. Energy is the basis for human survival. The energy required by the human body mainly comes from energy-producing nutrients in food, including carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

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The energy value generated by oxidation of each gram of energy-producing nutrients in the body is called the energy calorie value of food. 1g of carbohydrates, fats and proteins generate 4.0kcal, 9.0kcal and 4.0kcal of energy in the human body respectively. For adults, sugars only account for 55%-65% of energy supply, so sugar-free does not mean no calories.

Does sugar-free diet make you fatter?

Studies have shown that on the basis of reasonable control of total energy, appropriately increasing carbohydrate intake can actually increase insulin sensitivity and improve glucose tolerance. However, long-term consumption of a high-fat, low-protein, low-carbohydrate diet is most likely to cause obesity.

Obesity is a condition in which the body's energy intake exceeds its energy expenditure for a long time, causing the excess energy in the body to be converted into fat. This manifests as an increase in fat cells and a loss of normal proportion with other tissues.

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The most effective way to avoid obesity is to change the dietary structure and food intake to ensure that the intake meets the body's nutritional needs and the energy contained is lower than the body's consumption, rather than excessively restricting carbohydrate intake.

Principles of weight loss diet composition: low fat, moderate amount of high-quality protein, containing a variety of complex carbohydrates, and a high proportion of fruits and vegetables.

Are sugar-free foods healthier?

Sugar-free foods will not cause harm to the human body, but they cannot be consumed for a long time.

Carbohydrates are important substances that make up human tissues and are involved in cell composition and intracellular activities. If the human body does not take in enough carbohydrates for a long time, it will use proteins in the body, such as those in the liver, kidneys, and heart, to provide energy, thereby damaging human organs.

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When the dietary carbohydrate supply is insufficient, the body's fat will be accelerated to break down into fatty acids to supply energy. The fatty acids cannot be completely oxidized and will produce excessive ketone bodies. If the ketone bodies cannot be metabolized in time, they will accumulate in the body, resulting in ketonemia and ketonuria.

Some carbohydrates, when fermented in the colon, can also stimulate the proliferation of probiotics. If they are not consumed enough for a long time, it will affect the function of the human digestive system.

Can diabetics eat sugar-free foods?

It is recommended that people with diabetes consume low glycemic index (GI) carbohydrates rather than sugar-free foods.

Although some food packages are marked with "0 sucrose", they contain large amounts of other carbohydrates such as lactose, maltose, glucose, fructose, dextrin, starch syrup, high fructose corn syrup and maltose syrup. Large amounts of intake can also cause blood sugar fluctuations in diabetic patients.

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The glycemic index is an indicator used to measure the impact of a certain food composition on blood sugar concentration. Foods with low GI stay in the stomach and intestines for a long time, are released slowly, and cause smaller fluctuations in human blood sugar.

The GI value of glucose is 100. Common low GI carbohydrates include: black rice 55.0, corn (sweet, boiled) 55.0, buckwheat noodles 59.3, whole wheat noodles 37.0 and lotus root powder 32.6.

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