HEALTH CARE 
               PROFESSIONAL INFORMATION

• Sugar in the diet

Many people believe that they need to eat sugar daily for energy. However, you can get energy from a wide variety of other foods such as bread, potatoes and cereals. Since sugary foods are often associated with fatty foods (such as in pastries and chocolates), eating too much of them can make you gain weight.

Sugar-rich foods taste good, but because they can cause tooth decay and can increase the risk of weight gain, it is sensible to eat sugary foods as part of a balanced diet and to look out for low sugar options of your favorite food and drink.

• How can I reduce the sugar in my diet?

You can help to maintain a healthy weight and reduce tooth decay if you replace sugar with low calorie sweeteners. Since sweeteners are very sweet, you only need a tiny amount to give the same sweetness as sugar. You can use them to replace sugar and they have very few calories. Canderel has less than a third of a calorie per tablet and less than two calories per teaspoon of Canderel Spoonful whereas each teaspoon of sugar has 16 calories. In addition, low calorie sweeteners are available in tablet and granulated forms making them a versatile alternative to sugar whether using them in hot drinks or sprinkled on fruits and cereals.

A balanced diet does not have to be totally sugar free to be healthy. There are ways to control the sugar intake and limit it to a reasonable level. There are now many alternatives available that offer a good tasting alternative to sugar based products: 

 Choose diet soft drinks -Reduce the level of sugar used in cooking and consider using low calorie sweeteners for cooking and sprinkling .
 Use low calorie sweeteners as a tabletop alternative for drinks, cereals and puddings .
 Use sugar-free, or low sugar foods .
 Reduce the amount of processed foods consumed as these can contain hidden sugars .
 Look at food labels carefully, particularly the nutritional contents and ingredients lists to identify high sugar foods  .