10 Days Without Sugar — For Kids
Consuming added sugars has a negative impact on children’s health.
American research has shown that children who avoided added sugars for just ten days already experienced positive effects on cholesterol and blood pressure. Many of the children in the study were overweight and at increased risk of developing diabetes.
Unfortunately, the study was not large enough to measure changes in body weight. However, the results support growing evidence that sugar has a direct harmful effect on health.
Interestingly, even though the children consumed less sugar during the study, their overall calorie intake was kept as close as possible to what they had been eating before the study began.
Instead of added sugars, they consumed complex carbohydrates.
Robert Lustig, a pediatrician and hormone specialist, believes that fructose in particular is unhealthy. Fructose is a major source of sugar commonly used by the food industry. Certain syrups, for example, are enriched with fructose — and even regular table sugar contains fructose.