Is your child drinking too much sugar?

According to the statistics, children and teenagers are now drinking too much sugar. The amount of sugar that comes not only from soft drinks but also includes fruit juices, energy drinks and some other familiar foods.

There are many reasons to keep your child from drinking too much sugar. As is known, consuming too much sugar in the diet can contribute to health problems such as:
Obesity; Heart; Increased blood glucose; Tooth decay... When blood sugar is higher than the body's allowable level, there is a risk of insulin deficiency or resistance and diabetes. Meanwhile, gout and diabetes are closely related. The added sugars found in carbonated soft drinks or other beverages also cause uric acid levels in the blood to rise. Over time, excess uric acid builds up in the joints leading to an inflammatory response, causing the intense pain in gout.

New research confirms that children and adolescents are drinking too much sugar. A CDC study found that two-thirds of children in the United States drink at least one sugar-sweetened beverage a day, including soda, sports drinks, or brewed coffees. The report also found that boys consumed more sugary drinks on average than girls. About 20% of boys drink two or more sugary drinks every day, while the rate among girls is 18%.
The American Heart Association recommends that children and adolescents limit their intake of too much sugar to 230ml per week. This number is lower than a regular soda can with a volume of 350ml.
Total daily sugar intake for young people should be less than 6 tablespoons, or about 100 calories or 25 grams. Meanwhile, a 350ml can of soda contains up to 39 grams of sugar.
You can refer to more information about reasonable sugar consumption in children in the article: How much sugar do children eat per day is enough?

In addition to soft drinks, sodas and juices - drinks that everyone knows are high in sugar, there are a number of other products that are not too sweet but find surprising amounts of sugar.
3.1. Energy drinks In addition to caffeine, energy drinks also contain about 25 grams of sugar in each 230ml can. Sometimes dehydration is what makes you feel tired. Therefore, priority should be given to adding pure filtered water (electrolytes can be added) and not overdoing energy drinks or sports drinks.
3.2. Lemon tea Many people are wary of the calories and sugar added to fruit juices, so turn to tea. In fact, many popular teas contain significant amounts of sugar. The top lemon flavored tea brands have about 32 grams of sugar per bottle, while a cup of apple juice has 24 grams of sugar. You can control your sugar levels if you make your own tea at home or try a flavored water without a lot of sugar. But first you should still check the ingredients on the packaging label.
3.3. Canned fruit Fruits steeped in syrup (syrup/sugar) have about 39 grams of sugar per cup. You can cut your sugar in half by using only the main part (fruit) and omitting all the water (syrup). However, the best option is still to eat only fresh fruit.
3.4. Yogurt Yogurt provides the body with calcium and protein, but can contain up to 17 - 33 grams of sugar in each 225g box. This is as much sugar as 1 cup of chocolate ice cream. You should choose low / unsweetened yogurts, or add fresh fruit to eat together to reduce sugar consumption.

4.1. Salad dressing Although considered a healthy dish, a regular-sized portion of coleslaw - served by fast food joints, will provide you with about 15 grams of sugar. So if you want a salad dressing, make your own with some sugar at home.
It should be noted that salad dressings that are sweet, such as strawberry and raspberry, or come from France, have a lot of sugar. Average about 5-7 grams in 2 tablespoons. Therefore, it should be considered when adding to salads for children with obesity or if a sugar diet is required. You can also make your own sauce with vinegar and cooking oil to cut down on the sugar.
4.2. Tomato sauce Each tablespoon of ketchup on a burger contains about 4 grams of sugar. While not as much as some of the other foods on this list, if you're trying to cut down on sugar, have gout or diabetes,... switch to regular yellow mustard. You'll get less than 1 gram of sugar per tablespoon.
Many types of tomato sauce in spaghetti, although not sweet and salty, still contain 6 - 12 grams of sugar per half cup. This amount of sugar is equivalent to a chocolate chip cookie. The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than 100 calories of sugar per day (about 6 teaspoons) and men no more than 150 calories (about 9 teaspoons). So check the sugar content on the label of each sauce.

4.3. Breakfast cereals We all know that children's fruit cereals are high in sugar, but even healthier varieties, like oats and corn, contain at least 10 - 20 grams or more of sugar per serving. each cup. Although advertised as low in sugar, you should still read the nutrition facts on the back of the box to see how much sugar they actually contain.
For example, oatmeal is a good snack full of healthy fiber. But many fruit-flavored instant powders contain 10 -15 grams of sugar per packet, and low-sugar varieties also contain close to 5-6 grams per packet. You can add a few apple slices to your instant oatmeal to reduce your sugar consumption.
In addition, oat bar (Granola) is also a very popular breakfast cereal among Americans and is considered a healthy food. However, they contain a lot of sweeteners like corn/corn syrup, brown sugar, honey, corn sugar dextrose and fruit sugar fructose. Some are also topped with yogurt or chocolate, or sprinkled with chocolate chips. These ingredients add up quite a bit of sugar, averaging 8 - 12 grams per serving. So instead of eating a 28g bar of granola oats, use 1/3 of the bar to reduce about 5 grams of sugar.
4.4. Dried fruit Dried fruit has more sugar than fresh fruit. A small 42g box of raisins contains 25 grams or more of sugar. Meanwhile, if you eat half a cup of fresh grapes, you only load 1 gram of sugar into the body.
Children and adolescents often drink too much sugar and it is very easy to exceed the daily limit of sugar in their meals. There are foods that appear to be healthy, but in reality are hiding a lot of sugar. Therefore, besides cutting down on sugary sodas and other sweet drinks, experts also recommend that children, especially obese children, also need to avoid consuming processed foods, confectionery and candies. sweets and sugary cereals.
Reference source: webmd.com
SEE ALSO:
Signs the body is having too much sugar What will happen to the body if it has too much sugar? Sugar: How much to eat per day is enough?