True or false? Carbohydrate foods are fattening

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False - Foods containing carbohydrates include starchy foods and sugary foods and drinks. The popularity of low-carb diets such as Atkins have given carbohydrates a bad name, but don’t be misled. Foods such as bread, potatoes, rice and pasta play an important part in a healthy, balanced diet (providing energy) and a low-carb diet can leave us feeling tired, make our muscles feel like lead, or make us grumpy. Choosing healthier types of starchy foods can also be beneficial for digestion, blood glucose control and satiety (feeling full).

In the UK we have easy access to a lot of starchy foods which could the reason that these foods are linked with weight gain. Eating large portions of these foods or having a diet that lacks variety  might mean that we are eating a lot of bread, pasta, rice or potatoes, and if we eat too much of any food then we will gain weight. In addition, we often add fats and sugars to these foods – such as butter, creamy sauces, cheese, jam or honey – and these can also contribute to weight gain. I have spoken with many people who say that they avoid sugary foods and drinks but have not realised that eating large amounts of starchy foods could be contributing to their weight gain.

In the UK it is recommended that about 50% of the energy (calories) we eat should come from carbohydrates, with no more than 11% of those calories coming from sugary foods and drinks. For long-term health most of the UK population need to get more of their energy from healthy carbohydrates (bread, cereals and potatoes) combined with sufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables and milk and dairy foods. For many adults, including those who are overweight, fibre-rich sources of starchy carbohydrate may help with dietary satiety and weight maintenance or even weight loss.

Please note that young children (under 2 years) and people with high energy requirements but small appetites (like the elderly) may have different requirements for carbohydrates and should look for specific advice (eg: from a Dietitian)

For information about eating a healthy, balanced diet and portion sizes – please refer to the booklet from the Dept of Health called Your guide to the Eatwell Plate

Find the sugar hidden in your food

When I went to visit my friend recently she proudly showed me a new product that she had bought at the supermarket, a product with packaging that had many health claims printed on it…such as ‘wholewheat’, ‘fibre’, ‘healthy heart’. My friend wanted to show me that she was making healthy choices and the product did have some  nutritional plus-points, but a quick look at the ingredient list told me that it also contained a lot of sugar.

Many products have sugar added during the manufacturing process. All food and drink packets have  a list of ingredients, with the ingredients listed by weight in descending order (weightiest listed first, least weighty listed last).  Generally, if sugar is listed among the first few ingredients then the product will contain a lot of sugar.

However, manufacturers often disguise sugar by using various names to describe it in the ingredients list. Foods and drinks may contain a number of different types of sugar, listed separately, making it more difficult to decide if a food actually has large quantities of sugar. If you add together all the sugars listed on a product, the total could make up a significant part of the product.

When looking for sugar on a food label, look out for the following:

• Ingredients ending in ‘-ose’ – including maltose, sucrose, glucose, dextrose, fructose, saccharose, xylose
• Corn syrup
• High fructose corn syrup
• Malt syrup
• Rice syrup
• Golden syrup, maple syrup
• Honey, molasses, treacle
• Raw sugar, brown sugar
• Cane sugar
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Invert sugar

Since sugar is ‘hidden’ in many manufactured products it is easy to eat a great deal of sugar just by consuming regular, every day food and drinks. Below is a list of ingredients for a ‘light’ breakfast bar (copied directly from a supermarket website) – see how many sugars you can find in this product

Cereals (36%) (Whole Oats, Rice, Whole Wheat), Prebiotic Oligofructose Syrup (30%), Dried Apple Pieces (5.7%) (with Preservative: Sulphur Dioxide), Sugar, Cereal Flours (Rice Flour, Wheat Flour), Dextrose, Humectant: Glycerol, Fruit Juice Concentrates (Grape, Strawberry (0.6%), Raspberry (0.5%)), Glucose Syrup, Vegetable Oil, Sweetened Cranberries (1.9%) (Cranberries, Sugar), Freeze Dried Raspberries (1.1%), Maize Starch, Milk Lactose, Milk Yogurt Powder, Natural Flavourings, Malted Barley Extract, Citric Acid, Elderberry Juice Extract, Salt, Emulsifier: Soya Lecithin, Acidity Regulator: Malic Acid, Antioxidant: Tocopherols.

If you have a ‘sweet tooth’ the good news is that our taste buds do change over the course of a few weeks and that we soon become accustomed to foods or drinks that are less sweet once we start to cut down on sugar. Rather than swap to sweeteners, try to cut down on sugar (perhaps the sugar in your tea or coffee or choose a different breakfast cereal) – some people like to cut-down slowly and others like to go ‘cold turkey’. I have spoken to many people over the years who say they could never go back to 2 spoons of sugar in their tea (‘too sweet’, they say). So there is hope for anyone with a sweet tooth…many have been on the path before and succeeded.

For more information about sugar, it’s effect on our health and healthier choices – see the Food Fact sheet on Sugar from the British Dietetic Association