In industrialized countries, the daily consumption of sugar is very important. It is around 100g of sugar per day per capita, while it should not exceed 50g as part of a balanced diet, that is to say when the recommended daily caloric intake is between 1800 and 2600 calories. (variable according to sex, weight, height, activity, etc.).

For example, the French (who are not exactly in this area) buy an average of 35 kilos of sugar per year, while the world average is 20 kg. The situation is the same in Canada, where one in five calories ingested comes directly or indirectly from sugar (cookies, drinks, etc.).

To meet its energy needs, the body needs a sugar called glucose.

This is not the “classic” white sugar which, after refining, loses vitamins and minerals that are essential for health.

This white sugar, also called sucrose, can also have harmful effects on health if consumed in excess, and eventually cause hyperglycemia or type 2 diabetes.

For the body to function properly, blood sugar (= glucose level) must vary between 0,80 and 1,10 grams per liter of blood on an empty stomach, and between 1 and 1,40 grams within 2 hours of a meal. .

For all those who wish or who must control their sugar consumption, it is important to know that there are different alternatives to white sugar with variable glycemic indexes, that is to say having a more or less influence on blood sugar.

Our specialist’s opinion

We often hear that sugar is like a drug. Our daily consumption is such that it becomes difficult to do without sugar. Everyone knows that it can be difficult to resist the temptation to rush to the bottom of a box of cookies or a jar of ice cream.

Scientists from the University of California recently said in the prestigious journal Nature, that sugar would have harmful characteristics common to those of very controlled and dangerous substances such as alcohol or tobacco.

Helene Baribeau