Clearing Up Confusion About Sugar

I’ve cut out sugar. Gurus on social media say it’s fattening, a waste of calories, and toxic.

I have a sweet tooth. Given the choice of eating more dinner or having dessert, I’ll always choose dessert!

Is Coke healthier if made with cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup?

If you’re like most of my clients, you’re confused about the role of sugar in your daily sports diet. The anti-sugar “experts” (who speak to the general public, not specifically to athletes) argue that sugar is health-erosive. Sports nutrition researchers claim sugar enhances performance. So for athletes, is sugar friend or foe?

Sugar: Avoid it!

• Limiting sugar intake does not harm anyone. Sugar is not an essential nutrient. Our bodies can make sugar (glucose) by breaking down muscle and fat tissue or by converting the fat and protein we eat into glucose.

• The average American consumes about 17 teaspoons of added sugar a day (60 pounds a year). That’s a lot of empty calories. Populations with a high intake of added sugars tend to have health issues. By reducing added sugar to less than 10 percent of total calories, they can reduce tooth decay and the risk of weight gain, obesity, and associated health issues.

• Dietary sugar can drive up blood sugar. The risk of diabetes increases by 38 percent in those who routinely consume the sugar equivalent of a can of soda a day.

• Drinking Coca-Cola made with cane sugar is no better for you than Coca-Cola made with high-fructose corn syrup.

Cane sugar (also called sucrose) is comprised of 50 percent glucose, 50 percent fructose. High-fructose corn syrup is 45 percent glucose, 55 percent fructose. Both are metabolized similarly. Although President Trump says all-natural cane sugar “is just better,” science does not support that belief. Both contribute to health problems. Drinking Coke made with cane sugar will not make America healthier.

• With very high sugar consumption (sports drinks, gels, soda, candy), one could become nutrient-depleted. Empty- calorie sugar offers no nutritional value yet displaces nourishing food, which can lead to a lackluster sports diet.

Sugar and rowers: Moderation!

• Sugar consumption increased from less than 10 pounds per person a year in the late 1800s to about 100 pounds per person a year by 1945. It remained relatively flat until 1980. Yet our health improved between 1880 and 1980. We can’t blame just sugar for health problems. Lack of exercise, high stress, and poverty are also health-erosive.

• Sugar (a “carb”) is in breast milk, dairy food, fruit, vegetables, honey, potatoes, corn, quinoa, and all grains. People around the globe have consumed these foods for years. So why now are sugar and “carbs” deemed responsible for creating human obesity and diseases?

• Such fear-mongering terms as unhealthy, poisonous, and toxic are simply unscientific. People who lack knowledge of physiology fail to understand that sugar is not inherently fattening, nor is one particular food inherently healthy or unhealthy. An apple is a healthy food; a diet of all apples is very unhealthy.

• Our present state of poor health is not because we consume sugar and our diets are unhealthy. Rather, we are physically inactive. Too little exercise reduces our ability to metabolize sugar optimally. That, along with environmental factors, endocrine disrupters, stress, etc., explain the fundamental causes of obesity and metabolic disease.

• In terms of diabetes prevention, you should be concerned about blood sugar, not dietary sugar. A rise in blood sugar that occurs after eating is not pathological—unless unfit muscles and the liver fail to take up the sugar. It’s not what you eat, but what your body does with what you eat.

With inactivity, the body becomes less able to transport sugar out of blood and into muscle. This erodes metabolic health. Also with inactivity, a person can easily overeat because energy intake gets dissociated from energy expenditure.

Remember: The bodies of athletes are metabolically very different from the bodies of the sedentary. You want to stay active to preserve your ability to enjoy some sweets without hurting your health.

• Sugar cravings happen when the body needs fuel. If you eat before you run out of fuel, you will tame your sweet tooth. Have a second lunch when you are droopy and low on energy in the afternoon instead of devouring sweets in the evening. That said, a desire for sweets can also be a genetic preference.

Concluding comments

Lack of physical activity is a bigger threat to health than sugar. For people who are overfat and underfit, a diet low in sugar and starch is likely a wise idea. But for athletic people like rowers (who are at lower risk for heart disease, diabetes, and obesity), sugar and carbs are not toxic; they are an important fuel for enhancing athletic performance.

The one-size diet does not fit all. No one is suggesting that athletes should eat more sugar. Instead, rowers can embrace a sports diet that includes an appropriate balance of sugars and starches (carbohydrates) in each meal.  Strive for a healthy eating pattern that offers 85 percent to 90 percent quality foods and 10 percent to 15 percent fun foods, such as apple pie instead of an apple.

If you are fearful sugar will harm your health, keep in mind that fear-mongering relies on cherry-picked research that can prove what the “expert” wants to prove. Fear-mongering “experts” have created distrust of the food industry and have shaped opinions that support raw foods, super foods, whole foods, organic foods, and clean eating.  Confusion reigns!

My suggestions:

—Enjoy a variety of foods to get a variety of nutrients.

—Limit added sugar to less than 10 percent of your total calories (about 250 sugar calories per day for an active woman; 300 sugar calories for an active man).

—If you currently limit your sugar intake to a weekly “cheat day,” try this experiment: Enjoy a small sweet daily as a part of lunch or afternoon snack. This can curb your urge to binge on sweets in an unhealthy way on a cheat day. Sugar binges are what give sugar a bad name.

Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., counsels both fitness exercisers and competitive athletes in the Boston area (Newton; 617-795-1875). Her best-selling Sports Nutrition Guidebook is a popular resource, as is her online workshop. For more information, visit NancyClarkRD.com