By Frankie Brogan
Senior Nutritionist
Obesity and sugar
With the beginning of the New Year, many people are looking to make a fresh start in their lives. For many of us, this means looking again at our health and seeing what we can do to improve it. Watching your weight and losing a few pounds is always a popular option, especially after the excesses we all tend to indulge in over the festive period.
A glance at the latest statistics on obesity shows why tackling this issue is one of the biggest health challenges facing the UK today.
Obesity – THE FACTS
The NHS reported the following sobering statistics in its report on Obesity, Physical Activity and Diet in 2018:
- In 2016, 26% of UK adults were classified as obese. This has increased from 15% in 1993.
- In 2016/17, 1 in 5 children in Year 6 and 1 in 10 children in Reception were classified as obese.
- In 2016/17, there were 617,000 admissions in NHS hospitals due to obesity factors - increased by 18% on 2015/16.
- In 2016, just 26% of adults and 16% of children consumed 5 or more portions of fruit and vegetables a day.
It is little wonder that, faced with these facts, we need to look at ways to deal with this epidemic. However, whilst the causes of obesity are many and varied, one factor looms large in the reckoning – the prevalence and effects of sugar.
Why sugar is not so sweet
Simple sugars are a source of calories that provide little in the way of nutrition or satiety (the feeling of fullness). As a result, it's quite easy to consume sugary foods in excess, especially as they have an addictive quality. It’s even easier to do this when foods you might not expect have a high sugar content. For example:
- A freshly squeezed fruit juice can contain up to six teaspoons of sugar in a single serving
- Some breakfast cereals can contain the equivalent of seven sugar cubes per serving
- Some supermarket yoghurts can contain more sugar than ‘full fat’ Coca-Cola
Last year health experts in the British Journal Of Sports Medicine concluded that excess sugar and carbohydrates - not physical inactivity - were behind the surge in obesity, saying poor diet now generates more disease than physical inactivity, alcohol and smoking combined.
Help to kick the sugar habit
Exercise and healthy eating choices can help you to manage your weight whilst a unique combination supplement, Bio-Gluco Control, can help to control cravings for sugar.
Not only does it contain ChromoPrecise promoting healthy blood sugar balance, it also contains Delphinol, which may help slow down sugar release into the bloodstream. The result is a one-stop product which can help prevent sugar balance issues, including sweet cravings, fatigue, concentration issues and weight management issues.
For more details on how Bio-Gluco Control works and how it could help you in your New Year’s resolutions, please click here.
