*Contains Sugar

Since the past week, I have embarked on a 30-day Sugar Free diet. While Sugar Detox sounds fashionable and impractical, it may soon become necessary for many of us. I consider myself to be fitness conscious and active, yet I have seen the weight pile on in the past year, thanks to a raging sweet tooth, that has been steadily sated by a spate of gourmet desserts that apps like Swiggy will cheerfully deliver to your doorstep within 30 minutes. Undone by a wave of ice cream parlours, waffle joints and bakeries and coffee shops offering discounted muffins along with a cup of joe.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I have decided to eliminate all added sugar and sweeteners from my diet for a 30 day period to give my body a chance to overcome its cravings. This is not a weight loss regime – I am not cutting carbs or portions (at least initially) – and I will add back more fruits, vegetables and dietary fiber to my vegetarian diet. What I am really hoping to kick, is my out of control sugar addiction, which I worry will lead to health complications in the long run I was mentally geared up to drop all sweets, artificial sweeteners in milk drinks, juices or soda, and packaged foods that contain sugar. What I did not realise, is how many packaged products (and very unlikely ones) contain sugar and sweetener in unspecified quantities. The ‘hidden sugar’ that we consume in unknown quantities, on top of regular sweets, is likely to derail any attempt to cut down or lose weight. Literally, we are left with no choice but to eliminate packaged foods from our diet. We make sugary sodas out to be the villain, but food and even OTC pharma manufacturers are equally culpable.

A study by the Lancet in 2016, reported that India ranked among the top 3 countries with diabetes, right up there with China and USA. What’s surprising, is that while we promote ‘fat free’ and ‘trans fat free’ food, we are doing nothing about downplaying the sugar content. As a consumer, this makes me annoyed. As a consultant, I see a brand opportunity that many food marketers can take.

Here are some surprising discoveries that I have made during the past few days

1)     Savory foods and sauces contain sugar, they do not say how much

My three favorite extra spicy sauces including habanero sauce and sriracha, all list sugar as an ingredient. So do many brands of spicy mustard. This came as a shock to me, as did the fact that instant Chinese oats, instant noodle tastemaker, Schezwan paste and hot and sour soup contain sugar too. This is completely counter-intuitive to me; I would ordinarily never look for sugar content on these packs. It’s also supremely unfriendly to diabetics, if not downright irresponsible. I am sure the makers of these products would argue that the sugar is in miniscule proportions. What’s disturbing is that some of these, like oats, are positioned as healthy products that help us lose weight.

2)     OTC medicines contain artificial sweeteners or real sugar

The humble digestive salts, Antacid Gel, cough syrup – all contain either artificial sweetener or real sugar. And the sweetener may not be the good kind. My antacid brand lists Sodium Saccharine as the sweetener. Ever wonder why you find only aspartame or sucralose in shops these days and not Saccharine? Saccharine is in the center of a controversy as to whether it should be listed as a carcinogen or not. There is no clear verdict on this. Further, it is proven to cause allergic reactions amongst individuals allergic to Sulphur drugs. I had a very specific reason for eliminating sweeteners from my diet along with sugar – they satisfy the exact sugar craving that I am seeking to kill. Many of them are multiple times sweeter than regular cane sugar. While the evidence of their health impact may be questionable, there is no doubt in my head that these alternatives do not provide the ‘natural sweetness’ that you find in fruit. They teach you to crave sweetness, just as much as regulary sugary goods do.

Apart from this, there are cough syrups (including ‘ayurvedic’ ones), that directly add sugar or honey in some form.

Do you look at nutritional information and caloric intake on OTC medicines? Do you expect that an antacid may actually lead to diarrhea?

3)     Restaurants are not equipped to handle demands for ‘no sugar’ food

I have always found most restaurants are willing to accommodate requests for low oil or low spice, to the best of their ability. Indian restaurants also handle the complex demand for Jain food (which eliminates onion, garlic, ginger and all root vegetables) which requires a dish to be prepared completely differently from regular food, with a different base masala.

However, the same restaurants have no clue how to handle a request for a sugar free dish. Maybe this is more of a problem in Mumbai, but a request for non-sweet food in many restaurants still leads to the arrival of semi-sweet biryani and sweetened soups on the table. Standard dishes like Sambhar, the tomato paste that goes into pizzas and the mayos and sauces that go in sandwiches, all have sugar in them). I will seriously pay money for a sugar free sambhar but seems there are no takers! Jokes apart, this puts me in a spot. Does it mean I have to stop eating out to stay consciously sugar free? Because I am not sure that restaurants even know if dishes contain sugar or know. And worse, I don’t think they care.

4)     What about the diabetics?

In all of this, my sympathy really goes out to diabetics in our country, who deserve to have accurate information on how much sugar they are ingesting, and definitely need more genuine sugar-free and sweetener free choices. I have an elderly grandmother with insulin resistance and her sugar sometimes goes beyond 600. One of her small pleasures, is to eat a few restaurant bought delicacies like idli sambhar or an ocassional biscuit. Being an invalid, she also regularly consumes antacids and cough syrups. I am seriously planning to evaluate her ‘silent’ sugar intake. If we can reduce it, we can perhaps reduce her insulin and that can only do her good in the long run.

The bottom line : A heightened awareness about my sugar intake led me to discover the insidious presence of the ‘white poison’ in the most unexpected packaged foods. In a world where the diabetes epidemic is as real as the obesity epidemic, it’s high time that brands take responsibility for their sugar content. Cut it out, own it up on the pack. Be specific about quantities and calories. If they do not do it, then the FDA, FSSAI or any government body with authority, should step in and regulate this. Make *Contains Sugar a mandatory warning. Make companies accountable for their impact on our health.

A big shout out to the alternative brands who provide sugar free options (and there are increasing numbers of these, like The Butternut Company, Raw Pressery and store brands from Nature’s Basket). However, my contention is that removing sugar should not mean that a product needs to be premium priced. It’s something that every big FMCG company and food manufacturer should be forced to re-examine.