Is sugar really that fattening?

Sugar itself does not cause weight gain over any other type of food.

This is according to Priya Seetal, senior dietitian at the South African Sugar Association, who said the general perception that sugar caused weight gain and cutting sugar from one’s diet resulted in instant weight loss, was not supported by science.

“According to the World Health Organisation, the fundamental cause of obesity and being overweight is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and calories burnt,” she said.

She said people whose weight and body size have not changed over a long time were doing a good job of balancing their calories.

“Weight gain occurs when you take in more calories than you burn while weight loss occurs when we eat fewer calories than the body needs,” said Seetal.

She said South Africans ate too much fat and refined foods and too few vegetables, dairy and legumes.

In ancient times, man had to use huge amounts of energy to hunt for food and other activities while the food they could get was unrefined and hard to digest. The body used energy to digest the unrefined food. Today, Seetal said, food was easy to come by and highly refined while modern humans were more sedentary and it was therefore easy to eat more calories than expended.

Sugar is a carbohydrate and contains fewer calories per gram than fat, therefore it is easier to over consume.

“A study done over 30 years in Australia showed that Australians since, 1980, reduced their sugar intake by 23 percent but obesity increased 300 percent,” said Seetal.

She said diets that included a little sugar were easier to follow because of the taste it added to food. Those diets were more successful because people found them more enjoyable.

“The best weight-reduction diet is one that you can sustain over time, is safe over the long term for overall health and empowers you to keep off the weight permanently. Deprivation does not work.”

People who lost weight and kept it off generally did the following:

– Followed a low calorie, low fat diet and exercised regularly.

– Modified their food intake to lose weight.

– Increased their physical activity.

– Ate breakfast every day.

– Weighed themselves every week.

– Watched less than ten hours of television per week.

– Exercised on average about one hour per day.

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