Do you really know what you consume every day? It can be difficult to keep track of all the ingredients in your diet, but you should at least have an idea about them. However, no one realizes the substances that are in almost all of our food, but that constitute an important part of it. These are artificial additives in industrialized products.
For example, today it is not possible to easily get a treat or dessert that does not contain a substance called dextrose. Find out what it is and why it is found in many of the foods we usually eat.
What is dextrose?
Dextrose is commonly referred to as glucose and according to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), it is a common type of added sugar produced when acids or enzymes in corn are broken down before crystallization. To put it another way, it is a direct derivation of corn and its chemical composition is identical to glucose. In essence, it is a sweetener, although with a little less potency than regular sugar.
Various recipes can be made with dextrose, from craft beer to professional ice cream. It is very popular due to its preservative powers that lengthens the life of the products and their appearance. However, although it is considered a natural product, that does not mean that it does not have its risks when consumed in excess and for a long time.
Foods with high levels of dextrose
If you bake regularly, you will surely know about the various uses of dextrose in this area, since its abilities to maintain a dry and fat-free product are widely used in recipes for many types of sweets.
When you visit the grocery store, keep an eye out for these products that contain dextrose :
- Candies
- Dairy products like ice cream and yogurt
- Drinks of various types: fruit, energy and sports.
- Cookies and packaged doughs
Don’t be fooled by the labels on the packages, because even some healthy-looking products have high levels of added sugar (cereal bars, granola, and yogurt). In these specific cases, you should look for other names such as molasses, tapioca or wheat sugar, and maple syrup. In this way, you will know exactly how much sugar your body will consume per day.
Why cut down on added sugar
Unfortunately, not everyone knows about the existence of added sugars in the products they consume because large companies try to mask them under other names. This question is very dangerous and harmful for the average person, because we do not know what it is that we really put inside our body.
In addition, added sugars such as dextrose do not contain any kind of nutritional value and there are even times when they make you gain weight. In this sense, the American Heart Association recommends limiting your intake of added sugar during the day; women should consume no more than 25 g daily; while men no more than 36 g.
According to a study by JAMA Internal Medicine , the habit of consuming added sugars can lead to very dangerous heart disease, and can even lead to death. (Yang et al., 2014). Other very recurrent diseases are diabetes and obesity.
A good way to avoid added sugars is to include a higher proportion of meat, fiber, carbohydrates, and healthy fats in your diet to find a balance.
Conclution
Avoiding dextrose can be a difficult task, but it is not impossible. If you wish, you can maintain a diet low in added sugars and possibly improve your health quickly.
References
- Bojana, G. What Is Dextrose and Why Is It in Our Food? For Livestrong. [Revised August 2019].
- Yang, Q., Zhang, Z., Gregg, EW, Flanders, WD, Merritt, R. and Hu, FB (2014). Added Sugar Intake and Cardiovascular Diseases Mortality Among US Adults. JAMA Internal Medicine. doi: 10.1001 / jamainternmed.2013.13563
