Sugar

Sugar is a carbohydrate that enters the bloodstream very quickly and brings nothing but energy – no vitamins, no fibre, no protein. That's true of table sugar as well as honey, syrup, glucose or the sugar in juice. What matters is the difference between “free” sugars, which are added to foods or come from juice, and the sugar found naturally in whole fruit and milk, where it comes with fibre or protein.

The WHO and the German Nutrition Society (DGE) recommend getting no more than 10% of your daily energy from free sugars – at 2,000 kcal that's 50 grams, or about 17 sugar cubes. The WHO also sets a desirable target of under 5%. According to the DGE, children and teenagers in Germany consume considerably more on average – around 16% of their energy.

Where is it hiding? Mostly in sugary drinks, sweets, breakfast cereals, fruit yoghurt and baked goods – but also in ketchup, ready-made sauces and spreads. On the ingredients list, sugar disguises itself behind names such as glucose syrup, dextrose, maltodextrin, fructose or barley malt.

Why is too much a problem? Sugar barely fills you up, sends your blood sugar soaring and then crashing down again (cravings), provides “empty” calories and promotes tooth decay. That doesn't mean sweet things are off limits – a slice of cake on a Sunday is part of life. The real lever is your daily habits: water instead of fizzy drinks, fruit instead of snack bars, plain yoghurt with fruit instead of fruit yoghurt.

With children, this works best in a playful way: put sugar cubes next to the bottle, read labels together, make sweet drinks the exception – without bans and without guilt.