The More Sugar In The Diet, The Less Vitamins And Minerals It Contains

The more sugar in the diet, the less vitamins and minerals it contains

According to WHO recommendations, added sugar should not exceed 10% of the caloric content of the daily diet. But the European Food Safety Agency believes that this figure needs to be revised.

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The more added sugar we have in our diet, the less vitamins and minerals it contains, according to a Swedish study published in the journal Nutrition & Metabolism.

According to WHO recommendations, added sugar should not exceed 10% of the caloric content of the daily diet. But the European Food Safety Agency concluded that this regulation needs to be revised. There is not enough scientific evidence for the current regulations, the agency said.

Scientists from Lund University analyzed data from two major studies - the National Swedish Food Study and the Malmö Diet and Cancer Study.

Scientists calculated how much added sugar each study participant ate. They then compared the intake of 9 vitamins and trace elements (calcium, folic acid, iron, magnesium, potassium, selenium, zinc, vitamins C and D) with this amount.

“We pitted added sugars against other sugars to assess their overall effect on diet quality. Added sugar is not naturally found in foods and beverages: it is added during processing, cooking or at the table for various purposes, so it is not strictly necessary in our diets,”said Esther González-Padilla. co-author of the study.

Researchers found an inverse relationship between the amount of added sugar and the daily intake of all nine nutrients. That is, the more sugar is added, the less vitamins and minerals in the diet.

“Even if this study alone is not enough to change the recommendation, it adds valuable evidence to the knowledge we have so that we can adjust the recommendation in the future,” concluded Esther Gonzalez-Pradilla.