DIET AND CANCER

Cancer is a generic term for a group of diseases that can affect essentially any part of the body. Other terms commonly used are malignant tumours and neoplasms. A defining feature of cancer is the rapid creation of abnormal cells that grow beyond their usual boundaries, and which can then invade adjoining parts of the …

ENERGY BALANCE AND CONTROL OF BODY WEIGHT

As most people are aware, rates of overweight and obesity are increasing all around the world. In 2016, the World Health Organization estimated that 39% of the world’s adults were overweight and 13% were obese, or in other words, more than half (52%) the world’s adult population was overweight or obese. Excess energy from foods …

THE THERMIC EFFECT OF FOOD

Weight gain, whether intentional or not, generally occurs over long periods of time, as habitual energy intake exceeds our bodies’ requirements. Because the process for most of us is a relatively slow one (e.g., on average 0.5 kg or 1.1 pounds per year), factors that influence energy balance, even modestly, may be clinically important over …

GLYCEMIC LOAD AND DIABETES

People have long known that, compared to the other major nutrients protein and fat, the amount and type of carbohydrate that we eat or drink has the most pronounced effect on blood glucose levels in people with diabetes. Before the glycemic index (GI) was conceived, people with diabetes predominantly counted carbohydrate using carbohydrate exchanges (15 …

GI NEWS – SEPTEMBER 2021

GI News is published online by the University of Sydney, School of Life and Environmental Sciences and the Charles Perkins Centre, and delivered to the mailboxes of our 98,000 subscribers. Our goal is to help people choose the high-quality carbs that are digested at a rate that our bodies can comfortably accommodate and to share …

THE DEMONISATION OF SUGAR

Fifty years ago, sugar was a good in anybody’s language. Sweetness was equivalent to goodness and Sweetheart was a name we called our closest loved ones. In the 1970s, as a student of food science and technology, I learned how refined sugar (sucrose) was an important preservative, a flavour enhancer in small amounts, and an …

FRUIT, ADDED SUGARS AND CARDIOMETABOLIC RISK

With few exceptions, whole fruit is a good source of vitamins (e.g., A, B and C), minerals (e.g., magnesium and potassium), antioxidants (e.g., flavonoids and phenolic acids) and dietary fibre (e.g., cellulose and pectins), and has a relatively low energy density. It is therefore probably not a surprise to read that regular fruit consumption has …

FRUIT AND DIABETES

If you have diabetes or are at risk, you may be confused about fruit. Is it a healthy choice or something you should be avoiding due to its sugar content? It is true that fruit contains natural fruit sugars but in whole fruit this is packaged along with fibre, vitamins and minerals. This makes it …

SWEET HISTORY

“Sugar and spice and everything nice that’s what little girls are made of…” Robert Southey Long before the recent association of sugar with words such as “toxic” or “poison”, sugars and sweetness were used as terms of endearment or affection amongst people of all ages: Cupcake Honey (bun / pie) Peaches Sugar bun / babe …