This article comes from the stern archive and was first published on May 10, 2018.
For lunch there is a salad with dressing, a glass of apple-flavored water and two slices of white bread. What initially sounds like a healthy meal turns out to be a sugary affair upon closer inspection: there are up to 29 grams of sugar in these three foods alone. But that doesn’t keep you full for the rest of the day. This is usually followed by a cappuccino, a piece of cake in the afternoon or a pizza for dinner. The latter has around ten grams of sugar and also pays it into the sugar account.
Ten grams of sugar per pizza? That might not sound like much at first. However, it becomes problematic when large amounts of sugar add up over the course of the day. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends not consuming more than 25 grams of added sugar per day. This corresponds to around six teaspoons a day. The sugar that is added to foods and drinks or that in honey, syrup and fruit juices is considered particularly critical. In the example calculation, the recommended maximum amount is already exceeded with a single meal.
100 grams of coleslaw – twelve grams of sugar
The nutritional table, which has had to be printed on prepackaged foods since December 2016, provides information about the sugar content in food. The information can be used to identify the total sugar content of the food per 100 grams. Portion sizes are also indicated.
consumer advocates But that doesn’t go far enough: They are calling for traffic light labeling and arguing that this makes it easier to see how high the sugar, salt or fat content is in the food. They also complain that the portion sizes are often unrealistically small: “Even the biggest sugar bomb regularly seems like a balanced snack,” criticizes Foodwatch.
The only thing left for the consumer to do is look closely and recalculate critically. Do I really only eat 100 grams of coleslaw or the entire contents of the package (200 grams)? The former is always advisable – it makes a difference of twelve grams of sugar.
From February 18th to March 24th, presenter Dieter Könnes invites viewers of “stern TV am Sonntag” to work together to reduce sugar consumption in just five weeks under the motto “Simply Sugar Free”. They receive prominent support from actress Tina Ruland, who, together with two other colleagues, dares to quit sugar cold. “stern TV am Sonntag” runs on February 18th at 11 p.m. on RTL and parallel on RTL+.
Transparency note: The star is part of RTL Deutschland.