SALT AND SUGAR IN YOUR LIFE

Sipping on a steaming cup of tea on a rainy day, you reach for the deep-fried pakoras, liberally sprinkled with salt and spices. And when it interferes with sweetness of the tea, in goes another cube. It may seem infrequent every time you indulge the taste buds with palate pleasers like sugar and salt but satisfying that panchant can often leave a bitter aftertaste, by way of serious health consequences.

Nutritionally, all types of sugar are similarly, giving approximately 16 calorie per tsp, except honey that gives 21 calorie per tsp.

A Sugary snacks gets digested rapidly, but produces a sudden, rapid burst followed by a slump in energy. It's this energy crash that boosts hunger pangs.

According to the Diet Atlas of India, 85 gm (20tsp) of sugar and jaggery are consumed every day per adult in Punjab and Haryana, while 40gm (9.5tsp) is consumed in Maharastra and West Bengal daily. Consumption in the other states is lower.

The USDA recommends that 6 to 10 percent of total calories consumed perday come from sugar. That would be 6 to 18 teaspoons per day depending on the total energy intake.

Where as you can Calculate the salt content in food, just by multiplying the sodium content given on the nutritional imformation on food labels by 2.5. So, if a portion of food contains 3 gm of Sodium, then it has 7.5 gm of salt.

The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension( high blood pressure). Fruits, vegetables, and low-fat or non-fat dairy are the main constituents of this plan.

According to the Food Standards Agency, a food product will have high salt content if more than 1.5 gm of salt per 100 gm of food is used. And it's low when 0.3 gm salt per 100 gm of food is used.

Salt is an important additive in the diet and the salt intake of an average person in India is 15 gm per day. The Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition's (SCAN) recommendation for adults is 4gm per day(one teaspoon). Sodium is one of the primary electrolytes in the body. But excess consumption can lead to a string of problems which include exercise-induced asthma, heartburn, osteoporosis, oedema, and hypertension.Low levels of salt can be equally troublwsome, causing muscle cramps, dizziness or an electrolyte disturbance that can lead to neurological problems.


11.10.2008