Among the carbohydrates, we distinguish the starches (complex carbohydrates), essential for their energy contribution, digested in the intestine and absorbed mainly in the form of glucose, sugars (simple carbohydrates) which often have a sweet taste. The members of this specific family are numerous: glucose, fructose, galactose, maltose, lactose, sucrose… And they are always too present in our food, as revealed by a report from the National Agency for Food Safety, Environment and Work (ANSES). dedicated to “the evolution of the use of sweet ingredients or vectors of sweet taste in processed products.” The latter, written by the Food Observatory (Oqali) which presents numerous statistics on the concentration of sugar of processed products on the labeling data, is presented as “ a unique and very large photograph of the presence of these ingredients in foods. » All sweetening ingredients have been considered: added sugars but also ingredients that keep the taste sweet without providing energy like sweeteners.
The objective was to identify the different forms of sweetening ingredients used in processed products and especially in categories in which they are not necessarily expected. The ingredient lists of more than 54,000 products present on the French market between 2008 and 2020 were examined: ice creams and sorbets, jams, cereal bars, juices and nectars, dairy products, biscuits and cakes, non-alcoholic drinks, prepared dishes, sauces. , cured meats etc. The study consists of measuring the frequency of use of sweetening ingredients on the basis of their labelling, dividing them into 11 previously defined classes of ingredients (sucrose, lactose, other sugars, syrups, candies, honey, intense sweeteners…). The results obtained showed that most of the studied products (77%) contained at least one sweetening ingredient or a sweet taste vector. Unsurprisingly, the categories with the highest proportions of “products containing at least one sugar ingredient or sweet flavor vector” correspond to categories that have more of a sweet connotation.
Sucrose, or table sugar, present in our sauces
In fact, the categories that contain at least 95% are: ice creams and sorbets, jams, preserved fruit, cereal bars, pastries, biscuits and industrial sweets, pastries and frozen desserts, chocolate and chocolate products, syrups and concentrated drinks to be diluted in this way, like juices and nectars. But, more surprisingly, 10 of the 27 categories have a rather savory connotation: seasoning sauces, frozen snacks, charcuterie, spicy sauces, fresh catering products, freshly cooked dishes, broths and soups, frozen ready meals, ambient ready meals and aperitifs . with crunch. It turns out that sucrose, the equivalent of “table sugar”, is found in more than half of the food products studied (58%), with frequencies of presence ranging from 1% for the cheese category to 100% for the cereal bars category. . As a reminder, “ Sucrose is the reference sugar to define the sugar power of sugars, polyols and intense sweeteners. », affirms the Anses on this subject. Most product categories (19 out of 31) present more than half of their product offering with at least one ingredient from the “sucrose” class.
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If among these categories, most have a sweet connotation such as pastries and frozen desserts or even ice creams and sorbets, 4 categories with a salty connotation also present more than half of their products with at least one ingredient of this class: sauces of seasoning, in particular. for tomato-based sauces, mayonnaise and lean salads, spicy sauces (mainly for tomato-based sauces), frozen snacks (pasta and/or pizza toppings, sauces for products such as bread) and fresh catering products, in especially through the sauces used to season salads, surimi, breads and also the sauces used in sandwiches, but also in pizza dough or crepes. Then comes the “syrup” class with a presence frequency of at least 20% observed for categories with a salty connotation, the “juices and fruit concentrates” class of which 7 classes with a salty connotation present 10% or more of their products with at least one ingredient (fresh catering products, frozen ready meals, etc.) or the class “other sugars” which includes 6 categories with a salty connotation, including cured meats and frozen snacks.
What effects does sugar have on our health?
This last observation is explained by the use of dextrose. ” Indeed, it has many roles in charcuterie products. It is used in particular for conservation purposes: it can add to water molecules, preventing it from being used by microorganisms to develop. In cured products, dextrose facilitates the diffusion of salt and allows certain microorganisms to carry out a reaction between nitrites and myoglobin to obtain a pink/red color of the product (especially in dried meats or ham). “, specifies the ANSES. But more generally, why put sugar in a tasty dish, without even realizing it? The objective is nothing but to make the product more appetizing, to improve the appearance and / or structure of the product. “ In the canned ratatouilles, sugar is used to counterbalance the acidity of the tomatoes, and in the sausage, to promote better preservation. », details for example from the newspaper The Parisian Julie Gauvreau-Béziat, head of the food observatory (Oqali) at Anses.
The prize goes to ultra-processed products that often contain a lot of salt, fatty acids and sugar, the latter being also rich in additives whose impact on long-term health is still little known and characterized by the presence of pollutants formed during processing. processes. That explains why about 80% of them are classified C, D or E in the Nutri-Score according to the Ministry of Health. Another example given in the report concerns caramel, that is to say that 5 categories of ingredients with a salty connotation contain it in a proportion of at least 5%: seasoning sauces (in the balsamic vinegar used in certain vinaigrettes, accompanying sauces emulsified and mayonnaise), spicy sauces. (colourants in meat sauces), cured meats (colourants in pate jelly or liver mousse, but also hams and roasted poultry) and freshly cooked dishes. The study also looked at combinations of sweetener ingredients: 25% of the products studied use a combination of 2 classes, knowing that some use 7 different classes simultaneously.
And a specific category of salty products, frozen snacking, is not spared from this phenomenon. However, Anses has already highlighted in a report published in 2016 that sugars, more particularly in liquid form (sodas, nectars, concentrated fruit juices, fresh fruit juices, smoothies, etc.) contribute to the increase of weight “ Its consumption beyond certain amounts presents health risks through direct effects on weight gain, an increase in triglyceridemia (high level of lipids in the blood) and uricemia (level of urea in the blood). Thus, excess sugar can lead to overweight, obesity and associated diseases, such as diabetes mellitus 2, cardiovascular diseases and some cancers. “, attests the organization. As such, its experts recommend not to consume more than 100 grams of total sugars per day (excluding lactose and galactose) for adults and also consider that this consumption should not exceed 100 g for adolescents from 13 to 17 years, 75 g/d for children from 8 to 12 years and 60 g/d for children from 4 to 7 years.