Come July and New York will begin to live a life without trans fats, two years after the Board of Health banned the artery-clogging fat. Its restaurants are busy revising their menus and the American Institute of Baking is trying to perfect trans fat-free recipes for chewy chocolate cookies. Well, that?s quite a formidable task, considering the uncertainty of whether trans fat-free shortenings can achieve the same texture and ?mouth feel? in cakes, cookies and similar comfort foods.
Hopefully a few of those formulae and recipes would trickle down to India as well, where a generation obsessed with health opts for the easy way out. They can gorge on their favourite snacks and desserts, happy in the belief that they are fat-free and sugar-free. But are sugar and fat really bad for health?
?Onset of diabetes is one of the major concerns for those who consume excess sugar. So is osteoporosis, cancer, and heart disease, not to mention tooth decay and obesity,? says Suchita Thacker, dietician, P D Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Centre. But how much is too much? ?People should limit their daily consumption of free (added) sugars to less than 10% of their total energy intake. This recommendation adds up to approximately 12 teaspoons (48 grams) of added (free) sugar a day based on an average 2000-calorie diet,? adds Thacker.
One teaspoon of sugar has approximately 20 calories. Honey and jaggery also contain the same amount of calories. However, compared to sugar, honey is a good source of iron. Most nutritionists advice against added sugar because it carries no nutritive value ? it?s 100% complex carbohydrate. ?Metabolism tends to slow down with age and therefore it?s important to check your diet,? says Rupali Datta, nutritionist with Fortis Healthcare. But are artificial sugar sweeteners a good substitute? ?Four to five tablets or drops of sugar substitutes a day is fine, but most people tend to think that they can have as much of it because there?s no threat of calories. 10-12 tablets/drops a day is a definite no-no,? Datta puts emphatically.
The bottomline, that anything in excess is bad, is applicable here too. ?A few studies have shown that use of aspartame (non caloric sweetener) over a period of six years can cause urinary bladder cancer. However, next generation sweeteners like Splenda, don?t contain aspartame, and can be used for cooking,? says Fahmina Anwar, nutrition and dietetics services at Artemis Health Institute.
Users have their own rationale. Stylist Smriti Dasgupta used sugar substitutes for close to three years to shed her extra kilos before moving on to Stevia leaves. ?Anything that is not natural is harmful,? she believes.
Brands are also tapping into this health phonemenon ? certainly not a segment they could have ignored. ?Biscuits usually consumed as healthy in-between fillers have an extremely high ?stomach share? at 16%,? says Anu Narasimhan, category director, Health & Wellness, Britannia Industries. Britannia offers NutriChoice SugarOut ? an option sweetened with Sucralose. PepsiCo has instant snacks cooked in rice bran oil to reduce the saturated fat content by 40%. And it?ll soon launch a snack made of wholegrain and vegetables. Skimmed milk, curd, low-fat cheese, oil-free preparations… you can find them all on the shelves. However, don?t go overboard with your health regimen. Fat provides nine calories per gram, more than twice the number provided by carbohydrates or protein. ?A totally fat-free diet is unhealthy because the body needs fat to process biochemical reactions. All hormones are also cholesterol based and its recommended dietary allowance is 300 mg,? says Datta adding that essential fatty acids are important for controlling inflammation, blood clotting, and brain development.
If it?s difficult for you to keep a constant tab on what you eat, just follow the broad rule: 60% of your calories should come from carbohydrates, 20% from proteins, and the rest from fat. However, be careful about the nature of fat you consume. Trans fat is a complete no-no. An ideal ratio of consumption would be 1:1.2:0.8 for polyunsaturated (safflower, sunflower, mustard oils), monounsaturated (olive, canola, and peanut oil) and saturated fat (milk fat, butter, ghee, cream).
The ideal way is to eat healthy and work it out. ?Working out just four times a week can be of immense help. An hour-long workout, which includes 30 minutes of cardio, is good enough,? says Jeremy Cheong, personal fitness trainer at Fitness First.
