Maintaining a balanced diet is key to health. It may seem obvious, but the truth is that attention to a diet that truly provides all the nutrients or that, at least, limits what is not so good for us, Sometimes it involves an effort that due to time, ignorance or a personal decision, we are not willing to assume. However, a healthy diet has a positive impact on our current health and prevents future problems.
And that is why DKV, through the DKV Institute for Healthy Living, created, together with Carlos Ríos, a trilogy of manifestos for raise awareness about the need for responsible consumption of sugar, saturated fats and salt, where the pros and cons of these elements are detailed and argues, with data and a scientific vision, why it is advisable to limit their consumption. [Descargue aquí el manifiesto ‘A tu salud’]
The focus on these ingredients is usually continuous in the field of nutrition. And that justifies that in previous years the DKV Healthy Living Institute had already published specific manifestos on each one. Now, ‘To your health’ compiles the highlights of those documents. Furthermore, with the help of Carlos Ríos, a well-known dietician-nutritionist and creator of the ‘Realfooding’ movement, The text develops the pros and cons of these elements and argues, with data and from a scientific perspective, why it is advisable to limit their daily consumption.
And Realfooding, far from being a simple label on social networks, is a way of invite everyone to implement conscious eating in their daily lives that recovers traditional values that value the ‘natural’ product compared to the excess processing so common in the current food industry, which is usually associated with an increase in these components that are put under the microscope in this case. To this end, and as an example, the manifesto alludes to how this change in the sector makes visible the Mediterranean diet that was so common decades ago and that today gives up part of its always-penalized quality by the incorporation of foods with more calories, greater consumption of meat, dairy products and sugar and a third less fruit.
From there, and taking into consideration various behaviors that the text considers advisable, as well as the generic recommendation to improve the food labeling system, this analysis is developed around fats, sugar and salt. And with its different nuances, one of the joint conclusions that the manifesto ‘To your health’ of DKV Healthy Living Institute shows is that obsession with balance and creating well-informed consumers regarding their food. This is where part of the secret of healthy eating lies.
Fats: the ‘star’ of processing
These nuances also include another general consideration that is strictly followed when talking about fats, the first nutrient in this report. It’s about diversity. And the fact is that under the generic name of fat, the document points out, it is actually included under the same umbrella. elements with different compositions and that have very diverse and not necessarily harmful effects on health in all cases.
In fact, ‘To your health’ remembers that fats “not only serve to provide energy in the form of fuel, but their constituents also have structural or plastic functions and a regulatory function, among others. So where is the problem? It is something that the document asks in light of these characteristics and the fact that “most of the recommendations do not support any upper limit on total fat consumption” nor does it seem to anticipate any problem in relation to its consumption. That’s why, It is very important to know, even briefly, what kinds of fats exist, their origin and their consequences. which, as a general rule, are more negative the more processing there is behind it.
All this, as pointed out ‘To your health’, places the main problem precisely in this “ultraprocessing” regarding the consumption of fats since these will be “refined fats” that “will be consumed with other unhealthy ingredients such as added sugars, refined flours, sodium, etc.” In this sense, the document concludes, “the quality of the source must prevail over the quantity of the nutrient when we talk about health,” he concludes.
The problem of added sugar
Of all the ingredients under study regarding their influence on humans, none may have attracted more studies than sugar. As in the case of fat, we must also pay attention to the different varieties of sugars that exist so as not to be reductionist. However, in this case a new variable is added: amount of sugar added in the processing of food products and that takes further the amounts of this element that is naturally present in many of them.
If a measuring stick can be established based on quantities regarding more or less optimal consumption, all statistics on added sugar consumption seem to go far beyond the 5% in the diet recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO): according to an ANIBES study, promoted by the Spanish Nutrition Foundation (FEN), The average total sugar intake of Spaniards was, in 2013, 76.3 grams per day, of which 33.9 g/day were so-called added. That already represented 7.3% of total energy intake, in the case of children and adolescents up to 10%.
The WHO, in this sense, estimates that This trend of increasing consumption of added sugars has a very pronounced social component, hence the awareness chapter is an invaluable ally to reverse the situation. The price of ultra-processed products, the convenience they provide in their consumption or the lack of time to advocate for a more careful diet from home are some of the conditions that tip the day-to-day balance in favor of this type of products.
Hence, providing information to the consumer is very important to make them aware of the amount of added sugar contained in processed products, some unexpectedsuch as pre-cooked dishes, pizzas or sausages, among an endless number of references.
At this point, ‘To your health’ defends the idea that, beyond the debates around the quantities and convenience of sugar, Recovering traditional values in the diet means betting on an improvement in health. That is why currents that urge the reduction of added sugar in all products are also treated with relative skepticism because “if its practical application is analyzed, its impact on improving health is minimal” because, according to the Healthy Living Institute of DKV, “unhealthy, ultra-processed products with large amounts of hidden sugar will continue to be sold (just a few grams less).”
Salt and sodium, a key combination for balance
Salt is also one of the most common ingredients on the food table since, as the document recalls, “it has been one of the main preservatives and flavorings.” The main problem associated with excess consumption has to do with sodiuman element present in salt and assimilated in more quantities than recommended It can unbalance the body, especially the cardiovascular system.where it must be maintained in a certain proportion in relation to other compounds, such as potassium.
For this reason, the greater consumption of ultra-processed foods with high levels of sodium is linked, something that “has a lot to do with diseases linked to their consumption, such as hypertension and cardiovascular disease.” It is the consequence of an attitude that is ‘pushed’ in some way by routine: that foods with naturally incorporated sodium, more favorable for maintaining that balance, have been ceding prominence in the diet to alternatives with more sodium in their processing.
All these conclusions generally refer to another issue that requires maximum attention: how a diet based on ultra-processed foods ‘forces’ us to assume a greater consumption of these three elements that the text addresses. Given this situation, the manifesto ‘By your side’ from the DKV Healthy Living Institute proposes a “decalogue of commitments in favor of healthy eating” that, among other measures, advocates limiting the consumption of processed food, especially among minors, provide clearer information on labeling and promote access to real foods. In short, more awareness when eating to enjoy better health.