Thais Growing Increasingly Fond Of Sugar

[webfact]

Thais growing increasingly fond of sugar

DUANGKAMON SAJIRAWATTANAKUL

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- Thais consume up to 20-25 teaspoons of sugar a day, according to a 2011 report - two teaspoons above the previous year and about quadruple the recommendation of six teaspoons.

Piyathida Prasertsom, manager of the Thai Health Promotion Foundation's Sweet Enough Network, said yesterday that in 2001, consumption was 19.9 teaspoons a day.

One teaspoon equals four grams.

Children under 6, whose recommended intake was four teaspoons a day, actually ate 10, while school kids who should take six teaspoons were swallowing 12-13.

Besides lobbying for taxes on beverage manufacturers according to the quantity of sugar in their drinks, with a public opinion poll to be conducted on the tax proposal, the network also aims to invite drink and snack manufacturers to help the network's campaign to boost the population's health.

The network was focusing on sweetened drinks because they were the main source of kids' sugar intake. Each child drank about 300cc-400cc a day.

The network had already succeeded in convincing 70 per cent of schools nationwide to ban the sale of carbonated beverages and in five years all schools would do so, Piyathida said.

-- The Nation 2012-11-02

[asiawatcher]

They should go to the hospitals and have a chat to chronic diabetics, check out the chronic wounds that don't heal, the blindness and so on. That should be a deterrent.

[rijb]

Sugar Makes You Stupid, But Omega-3s Will Smarten You Back Up

Edited November 1, 2012 by rijb

[rkidlad]

But young fat children are cute!

If you stop these young children from eating too much sugar, whose cheek can I grab when out in the shopping malls?

Edited November 2, 2012 by rkidlad

[jaltsc]

Nothing says "Love" more than putting your child on the road towards developing Type 2 diabetes. "Put more sugar on your phad thai. I can still see part of a noodle sticking out"

[fareastguy]

Tax the beverage manufacturers all you want, they will just pass on the rise in cost to the consumers & say it's beyond their control.

Education is the best method, in line with the comment in post #2 it would make far better sense to have an educational program set up in schools,

Set up a classroom with posters showing all the effects of too much sugar consumption, have short films showing the real dangers if consumption is not cut, all the kids then can have something like a weekly 30 minute session in the classroom with a doctor from a local hospital dealing with sugar related illnesses, he can give direct advice to the children regarding a proper healthy diet & answer relevant questions which will be a lot more accurate than what they hear from the drinks & food manufacturers.

Also the schools can check the food stalls serving the kids at break times etc & ban them from selling rubbish to the kids.

[arthurboy]

Thai's growing increasingly fond of sugar.

Thanks again, the Nation. Another real eye opener.

[canuckamuck]

Thailand is a food culture to the point of obsession. They will change there ways when the Choapraya freezes over.

[bangkokburning]

I tell my wife weekly Thais are looking more like Americans.

Krispy Kreme in Thailand, <deleted> shoot me please.

[jaltsc]

Tax the beverage manufacturers all you want, they will just pass on the rise in cost to the consumers & say it's beyond their control.

Education is the best method, in line with the comment in post #2 it would make far better sense to have an educational program set up in schools,

Set up a classroom with posters showing all the effects of too much sugar consumption, have short films showing the real dangers if consumption is not cut, all the kids then can have something like a weekly 30 minute session in the classroom with a doctor from a local hospital dealing with sugar related illnesses, he can give direct advice to the children regarding a proper healthy diet & answer relevant questions which will be a lot more accurate than what they hear from the drinks & food manufacturers.

Also the schools can check the food stalls serving the kids at break times etc & ban them from selling rubbish to the kids.

The schools don't do the job they are supposed to do...Teach basic skills. Now you want them to take on the role of nutritionists. Get real!!!

[jerrysteve]

I don't doubt that at all. The last figure on the growth of Sugar Diabetes said that Sugar diabetes was up about 50 % over the last couple of years

in Thailand.

Not only is there sugar in most thai foods, there is sugar on top of sugar.

When I first came to Thailand 13 years ago, th..ere was hardly an obese person in the bunch.

Now there are many.

They are becoming just like the Fat Americans, and Europeans.

ic

We don't have to use our Nuke Techology to kill people. Our western food will do the trick. clogged arteries, diabetes, upping the risks of cancer and a whole host of other medical complications with a list a mile or for you metric folks 1.609 kilometers long.

[animatic]

Amount: 1 kilogram (kg - kilo) of raw sugar

Equals: 192.00 teaspoons (tsp) in raw sugar

So if the average Thai now consumes 20-25 teaspoons a day,

that is 140-175 teaspoons a week ,or almost 1.1 killo a week

A month

20-25 x 30 600-750 teaspoons or 3.9 kilos a month

By the year ( 365 days )

7,300-9,125 teaspoons a year or + or - 37.7 to 47.5 kilos of sugar a year EACH

or 83.1lb to 104.7lb(US) a year

AT 47 kilos that is nearly the average body weight for women 57kgs...

W.H.O

http://www.searo.who...n1525_10862.htm

"It is found that the average weight of Thai people is 56.0 ± 13.6 kg (sample mean ±s.d.), while the average body mass index is 22.4 ± 4.4. The checking of blood cholesterol shows that 34.4 percent have cholesterol level of 200 – 299 mg%, while 1.4 percent has cholesterol level of more than 300 mg%. Further, the findings show that 4.7 percent of the population of Bkk Metro have cholesterol level of up to 300 mg%. It is higher than the reports of other areas. The checking of blood glucose level shows that 4.7 percent of the country’s population has blood glucose level of more than 126 mg%."

For children it horrible 4 teaspoons is a max allowed

and yet under 10 and school kids eat 10 teaspoons for under 10 age

to the abusrd 12-13 a day for school age kids

or

12 teaspoons a day x 365 days = 4,380 teaspoons

divided by 192 teasopoons in a kilo = 22.8 kilos a year

I can't find average Thai child weighs,

but a 50 lb (us) child is 22.67 kilos weight.

So are the average good sized child here eating

MORE than it's BODY WEIGHT in sugar each year????

For perspective with fat America :

In 1822, the average American ate the amount of sugar found in one of today's 12-ounce sodas every 5 days.

Now, we eat that much every 7 hours. ...we're now eating about 100 pounds a year apiece....

Read more:

http://articles.busi...n#ixzz2B1vfAFp5

That is 45.35 Kilos a year or 8707.2 teaspoons a year or 23.8 teaspoons a day.

But what is the average weight to height of Americans compared to Thais?

Significantly taller and heavier by body mass.

So for Thais to bee eating americans under the table by weight alone,

they also have much less body to absorb and store or process this toxic sugar load.

Addiction is the only word for it.

Edited November 2, 2012 by animatic

[tominbkk]

Most Thai people have destroyed the ability to taste sweetness. I had a Thai friend hand me a bottle of green tea. I told him I don't take sugar, and he said, oh this one isn't sweet, just a tiny tiny bit to take the bitterness away. I took a sip and choked on tasting nothing but sugar... sickeningly sweet sweetness. My Thai friends thought I was overreacting, but it was positively disgusting.

Another friend's mother has Type 2 diabetes...So she does her best not to put sugar on stuff, but eats tons of sweet fruits and her family buys her cartons and cartons of processed fruit juice - because it's natural! (Sigh). then they sneak her ice cream all the time because she needs a 'treat' once in a while. And glasses of coke. I tried for awhile to educate them, but they don't listen, don't want to learn, or don't care...not sure which it is. She's thin for her age, so maybe they don't understand the dager she is in....

I saw a guy put about 8 spoons of sugar into his pork noodles the other day. Ick. And I saw a guy last night buy a medium piece of chicken to go with his 5 packets of sticky rice (sticky rice has the same GI as table sugar).

Edited November 2, 2012 by tominbkk

[laislica]

"school kids who should take six teaspoons were swallowing 12-13"

-----------------------------------------a maximum of

I used to have a couple of teaspoons of sugar in coffee but I had to give it up when I stopped smoking to try to control the weight.

It took more than two weeks before I was relatively happy to be without sugar, it is addictive for sure.

However, some time much later, if someone gave me a beverage with sugar, I just couldn't drink it, just a horrible taste.

In the timeline of Man, sugar is a very recent innovation, and you can bet that our bodies are not evolved enough to deal with it.

Like many other "new Inventions" in our crazy world.

[daninthai]

I'd like to know how they measured these amounts. Did they examine the average amount of food the average Thai eats a day, or did they count the total amount of sugar 'consumed' in the country and divide it by the population. The second, easier, lazier and more likely option would be wrong if they didn't factor in the amount of sugar wasted, as it doesn't all get eaten. These figures could be too high.

[Jingthing]

For non-diabetics, fresh fruit is a good safe food. Fruit juice unsweetened is not as good if the roughage is discarded. But get real, most fruit juice consumed in Thailand and most countries is SUGAR water!

[robblok]

I cut out most sugars and eat healthy. When i first came to Thailand i believed the myth that Thai food was more healthy then Western food. It is not both have their good and bad but the average street food has too little veggies and too much sugar and oils. If you cook Thai food yourself you can make it healthy. Same goes for Western food (not counting the fast food but then again Thai food has a lot of fried food too).

Result for me believing Thai food was healthy was gaining weight and working out hard without weight loss. Once i took control of my food and shaved my exercise routine a bit results started to take place. It went even further when i cut out alcohol. I think im now fitter as i was in my teens. I am lifting more even.

[kurnell]

I saw a fat Thai boy sitting at "Cupcake Love" (highly recommended) screaming for his cupcakes. He ate the icing on the top in a matter of seconds and left half of the cake in a crumpled mess on the table and hoofed it outa there. I then I saw him and his family 30 mins later in Dunkin Donuts. Sugar rush!!

[tominbkk]

For non-diabetics, fresh fruit is a good safe food. Fruit juice unsweetened is not as good if the roughage is discarded. But get real, most fruit juice consumed in Thailand and most countries is SUGAR water!

Problem with a lot of fruit is that it has been bred to be supersweet (ie pineapple). Better to stick to semi sweet fruit like papayas, or berries.

[Bramdaddy]

This is pretty much old news. In my lifetime, Thais have always seemed to have too much sugar in their drinks. Fresh squeezed orange juice used to get a dumping of sugar in it at hotels that it was almost unbearable to drink. Look along KaoSan Road and you see vendors who hawk fruit juice drinks with signs that say, NO ADDED SUGAR. They caught on that foreigners don't like the sickening sweet at every sip. As far as educating the kids? Well, that's all lip service. Try working in a Thai school where the administration purchases promotional packages of sugar-coated cereals to give students. Or where Milo mascots dance around selling their poison. And don't get me started on how crap Red Bull is. Both these drinks should be banned.

Edited November 2, 2012 by Bramdaddy

[madmitch]

I bought some "lite mayonnaise" the other day, expecting it to be sugar free. It was disgustingly sweet and when the GF showed me the 30% sugar content in Thai I was astounded. How can they label something as "lite" with such a sugar content?

The mayo was given to the neighbours and replaced with Heinz.

[Halion]

I think this article deliberatly misleads. Yes carbonated drinks are one of the culprits but most of the international brands have a zero or low sugar alternative. Within the Thai culture sugar is added to nearly everything, localy prepared fruit drinks and food is loaded with sugar.

These so called academics should look at the overall food culture in Thailand . I think baning carbonated drinks at schools is simply myopic as it appears to disregard the overall problem. Thai food culture has a very sweet tooth and sugar loaded soda's are meerly the tip of the iceberg

[GentlemanJim]

It has to be back to parental responsibility. My 5 year old has never tasted, coke, fanta or the likes. She loves fresh juice or water or milk.

It is sad here when you ask for a fresh orange juice it will come poisoned with sugar and salt <deleted>! why not just orange juice? If you ask for it without, you get it. The OP makes horrific reading if the amounts are correct and lots and lots of refined white sugar is a sure fire way of getting type 2 diabetes.

[GentlemanJim]

I think this article deliberatly misleads. Yes carbonated drinks are one of the culprits but most of the international brands have a zero or low sugar alternative. Within the Thai culture sugar is added to nearly everything, localy prepared fruit drinks and food is loaded with sugar.

These so called academics should look at the overall food culture in Thailand . I think baning carbonated drinks at schools is simply myopic as it appears to disregard the overall problem. Thai food culture has a very sweet tooth and sugar loaded soda's are meerly the tip of the iceberg

Be warned, those low and zero sugar alternatives contain stuff far worse for you than sugar. If you want a coke on a hot day, just accept it and have a fatboy coke, just dont drink 10 a day. The zero sugar alternatives are very bad indeed.

[tominbkk]

I bought some "lite mayonnaise" the other day, expecting it to be sugar free. It was disgustingly sweet and when the GF showed me the 30% sugar content in Thai I was astounded. How can they label something as "lite" with such a sugar content?

The mayo was given to the neighbours and replaced with Heinz.

Lite mayo replaces fat with sugar and other carbs. Nasty! Make your own, I do, it's delicious and simple!

[tominbkk]

I think this article deliberatly misleads. Yes carbonated drinks are one of the culprits but most of the international brands have a zero or low sugar alternative. Within the Thai culture sugar is added to nearly everything, localy prepared fruit drinks and food is loaded with sugar.

These so called academics should look at the overall food culture in Thailand . I think baning carbonated drinks at schools is simply myopic as it appears to disregard the overall problem. Thai food culture has a very sweet tooth and sugar loaded soda's are meerly the tip of the iceberg

Be warned, those low and zero sugar alternatives contain stuff far worse for you than sugar. If you want a coke on a hot day, just accept it and have a fatboy coke, just dont drink 10 a day. The zero sugar alternatives are very bad indeed.

Get those Chang sodas with bitter lemon essence. Really good, and if you don't like it so bubbly add about a third water to it. Great thirst quencher.

[GentlemanJim]

I think this article deliberatly misleads. Yes carbonated drinks are one of the culprits but most of the international brands have a zero or low sugar alternative. Within the Thai culture sugar is added to nearly everything, localy prepared fruit drinks and food is loaded with sugar.

These so called academics should look at the overall food culture in Thailand . I think baning carbonated drinks at schools is simply myopic as it appears to disregard the overall problem. Thai food culture has a very sweet tooth and sugar loaded soda's are meerly the tip of the iceberg

Be warned, those low and zero sugar alternatives contain stuff far worse for you than sugar. If you want a coke on a hot day, just accept it and have a fatboy coke, just dont drink 10 a day. The zero sugar alternatives are very bad indeed.

Get those Chang sodas with bitter lemon essence. Really good, and if you don't like it so bubbly add about a third water to it. Great thirst quencher.

That's made me thirsty already

[Soi Dog]

I am always amazed at the things they put sugar on here. I bought some fresh popped popcorn and thought they were going a little heavy on the salt until I realized they were loading it with sugar. That's just not right.

[Jingthing]

Not sure what Thailand can do to make this better. It's such a live for the moment culture, isn't it? It's not only Thailand try telling an American southerner to cut down the sugar in his SWEET TEA.

[sangfroid]

Thailand is a food culture to the point of obsession. They will change there ways when the Choapraya freezes over.

Closely followed by a money culture to the point of obsession.