Yogurt has a harmful ingredient that you don't know

Surely everyone of us has tried yogurt, someone made it at home, there are people who buy it outside, but there is one thing that many people are confused about yogurt is its sweetness. . Natural yogurt is inherently not sweet because it is the result of the fermentation of bacteria in milk. The sweet yogurt is due to the addition of sweeteners and sugar.

Humans began to ferment yogurt thousands of years ago - born in the island of Anatolia (now Turkey) from 3000 - 2000 BC, until the 20th century, when the yogurt industry The scale is gradually formed. In the decades from 1919 to the 60s of the 20th century, yogurt began to change flavor, towards the sweetness of today. Yogurt with fruit jelly began to be patented in 1933, and 30 years later, ie 1963, mixed yogurt was born.

Humans began to ferment yogurt from thousands of years ago.

At that time, for Americans, yogurt is really not very attractive. And to improve that, in the 1970s, Danone and other big yogurt companies started large-scale and long-term advertising campaigns to convince parents about the health benefits of yogurt for children. To convince that yogurt has nutritional value for children, manufacturers have continued to add more sweeteners to fill the sourness of natural fermented milk.

"Yogurt marketers have discovered that most people don't like yogurt because of its sour taste. And they can improve their sales by making" sweet "yogurt more" . Marion Neste, professor of nutrition, food and public health research at New York University and author of What to Eat says.

And since that milestone, today, in the United States, yogurt is a large market worth $ 8.5 billion including many supermarket systems that are full of yogurt items sold to children - from Dannon's Danimals to Stonyfield's YoBids, Yoplait Trix and Chobani Champions. According to a study in Pediatrics in 2015, yogurt is one of the three most popular food and beverage products in the US market.

But what parents might not realize is that a jar of yogurt can contain too much sugar , about 10 grams, equivalent to a Pillsbury pie.

Pillsbury Cake.

Recently, a new study revolves around this issue published in the international journal of obesity and re-published by the author Gretchen Reynolds in the New York Times, showing that many parents do not know the amount. Road consumption of their children. This is very harmful to the body of young children, especially in the developing age. Part of the reason they are hard to keep track of their consumption is because sugar is present in every food and drink on the market, typically orange juice and yogurt, they think it is good for health, but not completely.

Children are increasingly using more sugar

According to the World Health Organization, sugar should account for less than 10% of total daily calories. For children between the ages of 2 and 18, the prescribed level is 6 teaspoons of sugar per day.

But ironically, food companies find a lot of ways to add sugar to their products, such as the international obesity magazine said. The study was conducted by three researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany, surveying 305 German families with at least one 6 to 12 year old child. The survey was conducted by having parents perform a computer test asking them to estimate the sugar content in six types of food and drinks, including yogurt and tomato sauce. The researchers found that 74% of parents underestimated the amount of sugar in all given items.

As Reynolds explains in the New York Times, the most confused parents about the amount of sugar contained in foods are often considered healthy, healthy. She said: "More than 90% of the participants assessed low sugar in yogurt, for example, an average of seven blocks, or about 60% of the total amount of sugar in each serving". Some types of yogurt can contain more than 4 sugar blocks , which means that only one jar of yogurt is enough to reach the maximum sugar consumption per day . Indeed, research shows that many children are using more sugar than allowed, with toddlers in the United States, consumption is close to - or more than recommended for adults.

Why is sugar especially not good for children?

A jar of yogurt may contain too much sugar.

More than 18% of primary school students in the United States are obese. The factors that contribute to that number are unhealthy lifestyle, or stress, and accepting excess sugar in foods or drinks is also among them. While this excess sugar, if absorbed during adolescence, is developing, it can lead to weight gain, cardiovascular risk, obesity and high blood pressure. Recent studies also show that excess sugar reduces the body's immunity, making children more susceptible to disease and infection.

The amount of sugar ingested exceeds the threshold from the beginning because of the parents' subjectivity has gradually become a habit and makes things more difficult for children. Therefore, a strategy to reduce the amount of sugar consumed by children is to create healthy eating habits for children at the age of two. AHA guidelines state that children of this age "should avoid consuming any additional sugars, because they need a nutritious diet and are developing taste preferences".

Health advocates for young children are trying to raise awareness about the pitfalls of mixed yogurt. The "Save Kids From Sugar" campaign run by Liverpool City Council aims to educate about the health risks of confusing yogurt with a healthy snack. Meanwhile, major health organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have issued warnings to parents to avoid falling into the trap of yogurt marketing campaigns, the "healthy" trap they take out.

But the good news is that parents can absolutely seek a quick alternative. It is the use of natural fermented yogurt , mixed with fruit or nuts, which will be a healthy snack and equally attractive.