How much sugar should one eat a day?

How much sugar should one eat a day?
By Dr Luisa Dillner /London
Sugar is hard to resist and our consumption of it has increased relentlessly. Last week, research from the Universities of Bristol and Bangor, published in the journal Appetite, showed that drinking two sugary drinks a day makes us crave even sweeter food and drink.

What is sugar?

A loose term covering a class of carbohydrates that includes sucrose, (from sugar cane or sugar beets), lactose (milk sugar) and fructose (fruit sugar). Refined sugar – of the kind you put in your tea – is made up of a molecule of glucose combined with a molecule of fructose. Fructose is twice as sweet as glucose.

Is sugar bad for you?

The sugar industry says that there are no bad foods. It also argues, forcefully, that sugar does not provide empty calories, a charge laid against it by nutritionists who say that the refining process strips out and bleaches sugar, removing vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. Although it can’t argue that sugar is full of goodness, it says that people who eat sugar do not seem to be vitamin or mineral deficient. Which isn’t quite the same thing. What no one can argue about is that sugar causes tooth decay....................