"Honey and agave are the healthiest alternatives to sugar."
The funny part of that is honey is sugar.
"You should cut all sugar from your diet."
Let's not do that.
"High-fructose corn syrup is the worst kind of sugar."
We can't really say that it's any better or any worse.
Hi, my name is Mary Matone.
I'm a registered dietitian,
and I primarily work with clients with type 1,
type 2 diabetes, as well as heart disease.
My name is Meredith Rofheart.
I'm a registered dietitian, and I work with people
who are interested in overall wellness
and weight management and weight loss.
And today we'll be debunking myths about sugar.
"Sugar is bad for you."
So, that's a bold statement,
and I would say that that is false.
The body does need sugar.
Rofheart: When you eat anything
that does contain sugar or sugar compounds,
in the body, everything does get converted to glucose.
Matone: And that's ultimately what our body uses
as its main energy source, specifically the brain.
It just comes down to what kind of sugar we need more often
and what kind of sugar we should be limiting
most of the time.
Rofheart: Natural sugar is coming from whole foods,
like fruits and vegetables and whole grains and legumes.
And then you have your simpler sugars,
more refined and more processed,
like candy and packaged baked goods,
that have been basically extracted from your whole foods
to be converted to their simplest form.
They're not nutrient-dense.
There's no nutrients attached.
Of your total daily calories,
less than 10% should be coming from added sugars.
"High-fructose corn syrup is the worst kind of sugar.
Matone: A food that has high-fructose corn syrup
isn't necessarily any worse than a food
that has regular table sugar.
In terms of comparing this to the sugar
that you might find in fruit, which is also fructose,
it's probably worse for you.
But when comparing it to other sugars
that have been extracted from whole foods,
we can't really say that it's any better or any worse.
What's most important probably in this case
is how much you're consuming of it.
A high intake of these foods
can cause elevated blood sugar over time.
It can also lead to more cravings for sugar,
less feelings of satiety.
Rofheart: What it's also doing is taking away room
for whole foods that do have these nutrients
and vitamins and minerals we do need daily.
If you do have limited access to food
and you are able to find things such as frozen
or even canned vegetables, canned beans, canned fish,
these can be good options to help balance out
that sugar intake if it is accessible.
"Honey and agave are the healthiest alternatives to sugar."
We hear all the time, "If you want to cut sugar,
instead of using sugar, use honey."
The funny part of that is honey is sugar.
Honey and agave are commonly thought to be better sugars
because they contain antimicrobial
or antioxidant properties.
Rofheart: But you'd have to eat so much
to really reap those benefits.
So, let's say you're baking a banana bread or pumpkin pie.
Do you need to swap all of your table sugar
in your baking recipes for honey?
No. You can stick to the regular sugar,
and it's going to have pretty much the same outcome
as if you swapped it with honey.
What it really is coming down to is,
how much are you consuming?
Too much honey, too much agave, too much table sugar,
all going to have negative health consequences.
All too much sugar.
"Sugar makes you hyper."
Sugar gives you energy. That's its job.
That is not the same thing as hyperactivity.
What is hyperactivity?
It is a feeling of short attention span,
inability to concentrate for long periods of time.
All the studies done on sugar and hyperactivity
and related diseases like ADHD
conclude that sugar does not make you hyper.
You can even make the opposing argument
that sugar drains you.
Matone: That might lead to that feeling
of what we call a sugar crash.
Feelings of fatigue, tiredness,
being sluggish a couple hours after a meal.
Rofheart: When people say, "I'm hangry,"
that is that feeling of a sugar crash.
If you want to avoid that sugar crash later in the day,
give yourself some energy in the morning from sugar,
but make sure you're pairing it with fiber,
protein, and healthy fats.
And make sure you don't go too long without eating.
"You should cut all sugar from you diet."
Let's not do that.
Not only is it not really recommended,
it would be really hard to do.
Like we mentioned earlier,
it is literally the form of energy for our bodies.
Let's say you fully cut out all sugar in some way.
You would no longer have sugar to use for energy.
Your body then starts to produce ketone bodies from fat
to then be used as energy.
Although in the beginning of this process
this might feel OK in your body, over time,
this is not going to be beneficial for your cells,
for weight management, for blood sugar control.
That does have a cascading and domino effect
on things like inflammation and hormones.
So it's not smart or beneficial
to cut all sugar from the diet.
When you're depriving the brain of its main energy source,
it's natural to then start feeling things
like brain fog, fatigue, cognitive decline.
"Artificial sweeteners are healthier than sugar."
This is technically a myth.
So, let's say you're having your morning cup of coffee,
and you normally put a tablespoon of sugar in.
Is putting artificial sweetener in,
like Sweet'N Low or Splenda, better for you?
Not necessarily. If your goal is to minimize calories,
yeah, artificial sweeteners could be a good option.
They are 200 to 20,000 times sweeter than sugar.
It could in some cases be a better alternative
for someone with diabetes.
That being said, if you notice over time
that artificial sweeteners are making you hungrier
later in the day, I would consider changing it up.
One possible issue that studies have found is that
long-term use or a high amount of artificial sweetener
might have an effect on your hunger hormones
and your fullness hormones.
This could lead to overeating.
Also, because it's so much sweeter,
it might affect your taste.
Next time you go to eat something with regular sugar,
it might not taste as sweet to you,
and you might want more to get that same level of sweetness.
"Sugar is only in sweet foods."
This is also false.
Sugar is a basic molecule in
anything from fruit to starch
to bread to pasta to beans.
Rofheart: Sauces, dressings, and gravies.
So when you're having french fries and ketchup,
you're not really thinking that you're having sugar,
but it's in there.
If you want to look out for other foods
that don't naturally contain sugar ...
Rofheart: It's always important to check
the nutrition facts label.
Scan down to total carbohydrates,
and under that you'll see sugars and added sugars.
Try to watch out for too many grams
of added sugars on the label.
Ideally, it's recommended to consume
less than 6 teaspoons from added sugar daily.
"Sugar is addictive."
No. Sugar is not addictive.
Addiction is a chronic or compulsive
physiological or psychological need
for a habit-forming substance.
And not having that substance will cause withdrawal.
Rofheart: Sugar does not have that same
habit-forming addictive quality.
You do get some pleasure and reward when you have sugar,
because it triggers dopamine,
which is a neurotransmitter in the brain
responsible for that feeling of happiness
and pleasure and reward,
which might make you feel more inclined to choose it again.
And you might crave it for that reason.
But it is not the same thing as addiction.
There's a lot of reasons that we crave sugar.
If you're eating something like candy
and it's not paired with anything like fiber,
healthy fat, or protein,
there's not enough other food or nutrients there
to help slow the uptake or the digestion
and absorption of sugar.
And what happens is then your blood sugar drops
a lot earlier, and now you're hungrier.
Your brain wants to bring that blood sugar
back up to baseline, and your brain knows
the quickest thing to do that is a carbohydrate and sugar.
"Sugar causes diabetes."
No. Sugar itself does not cause diabetes.
So, diabetes is a condition
in which your body isn't properly processing blood sugar.
There's two types of diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease,
which, in its pathology, has nothing to do
with what you're eating.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by a number of factors,
which include overweight, obesity,
lifestyle factors, exercise.
Genetics, these also play a role.
What we can say is high intake of refined sugars,
especially if they're not paired
with other nutrients properly and are causing
that erratic blood sugar we discussed earlier,
we can say that that likely contributes to diabetes.
But to say that eating sugar
will give you diabetes is false.
"People with diabetes can't eat sugar."
Big false.
The big problem with saying people with diabetes
can't eat sugar is that when people with diabetes
don't actually get enough sugar
and their blood sugar drops too low,
that can be a big diabetic emergency,
and even falling into a diabetic coma.
People with diabetes
just have to be a lot more careful and strategic.
Matone: Let's say you want to have
a piece of fruit in the morning.
I wouldn't pair it with a sugary cereal.
I would try to pair it with something
that's going to be a little bit more balanced,
maybe like an omelet.
An omelet is going to have eggs,
which is going to give you some fat and protein.
And maybe even top it with avocado
for a little bit more fat.
We need to think about when we're having sugar
and what we're pairing it with,
so it's not causing that rapid blood sugar spike.
Sugar is a part of a balanced diet.
The main things are that you understand
what sugar is doing in your body
and know how to effectively pair sugar with fat and protein.
And when it comes to added sugars
or processed packaged foods, moderation is key.