Sweet to the taste. Powerful in its
effects.
Sugar is everywhere. It is present
not only in sweets, chocolates and desserts, but also in soft drinks, packaged
juices, biscuits, breakfast cereals, sauces, bakery products and many foods
that may not even taste very sweet.
Common Indian examples
☕ Tea/coffee with 2–3 teaspoons of sugar
🥛 Flavoured milk and milkshakes
🧃 Packaged fruit juices and sweetened drinks
🍪 Biscuits, cookies and cream biscuits
🥣 Sweetened breakfast cereals
🍞 Bread, buns and bakery products
🍰 Cakes, pastries and desserts
🍮 Kheer, payasam, halwa and puddings
🍬 Gulab jamun, rasgulla, jalebi, laddu and peda
🥞 Sweet pongal, poori with sweet accompaniments and other festive foods
🥭 Mango shakes and other fruit-based sweetened drinks
🍯 Honey and jaggery-based sweets
A little sugar is not the enemy. The
problem begins when we consume more added sugar than our body needs, day after
day.
Excess sugar intake can contribute
to obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease, dental problems and cardiovascular
risk. It can also make healthy eating difficult by adding calories without
providing much nutritional value.
But does sugar really cause all
illnesses?
No. Diseases have many
causes—genetics, infections, lifestyle, environmental factors, ageing and other
medical conditions.
However, excessive intake of
added/free sugars can be an important contributor to several chronic health
problems.
What happens when we eat sugar?
When we eat carbohydrates, they are
broken down into glucose, which provides energy to our cells.
After a meal, blood glucose rises
and the pancreas releases insulin. Insulin helps glucose move from the
bloodstream into cells, where it can be used for energy or stored.
The problem arises when our diet
repeatedly provides more energy—especially from refined carbohydrates and added
sugars—than the body requires.
Over time, this pattern may
contribute to:
Excess calories → weight gain → insulin
resistance → higher blood glucose → increased risk
of metabolic disease
This process does not happen
overnight. It develops gradually.
1. Sugar and obesity
Added sugar can provide a
substantial amount of energy without making us feel as full as a nutrient-rich
meal.
Consider a simple example:
A sugary drink may contain several
teaspoons of sugar but provide little protein, fibre or chewing satisfaction.
If such drinks and foods are consumed
frequently, the extra calories can accumulate.
Excess body fat—particularly
abdominal fat—is associated with increased risk of insulin resistance, type 2
diabetes, fatty liver disease and cardiovascular disease.
2. Sugar and type 2 diabetes
Eating sugar does not automatically
mean that a person will develop diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes usually results from
a combination of factors, including:
Genetics and family history
Excess body weight
Physical inactivity
Insulin resistance
Ageing
Dietary patterns
Other metabolic factors
However, regularly consuming excess
calories and sugary foods or drinks can promote weight gain and insulin
resistance, thereby increasing diabetes risk.
The goal is not to fear every gram
of sugar—but to avoid making excess sugar a daily habit.
3. Sugar and fatty liver
The liver processes much of the
sugar we consume.
Large amounts of added
sugars—particularly from sugar-sweetened beverages—can contribute to excess
calorie intake and metabolic dysfunction. In susceptible individuals, this can
contribute to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD),
commonly called fatty liver disease.
Fatty liver is no longer only a
problem associated with alcohol.
It is increasingly seen in people
with obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
4. Sugar and heart health
Heart disease is not caused by sugar
alone.
However, a diet high in added sugars
may contribute indirectly through:
Weight gain
Insulin resistance
Type 2 diabetes
Abnormal blood lipids
High blood pressure
Metabolic inflammation
These factors can increase
cardiovascular risk.
Protecting your heart therefore
means looking at the whole dietary pattern—not just cholesterol.
5. Sugar and dental health
This is one area where the sugar
connection is particularly clear.
Bacteria in dental plaque use
fermentable carbohydrates to produce acids. Frequent exposure to sugary foods
and drinks can increase the risk of dental caries (tooth decay).
It is not only the amount of sugar
that matters.
How frequently your teeth are
exposed to sugar also matters.
Constantly sipping sweetened
beverages throughout the day can be particularly harmful to dental health.
6. Sugar hides in unexpected places
You may think you are avoiding
sweets—but added sugar can appear in many everyday foods.
Look carefully at:
Soft drinks
Packaged fruit drinks
Energy drinks
Sweetened tea and coffee
Biscuits and cookies
Cakes and pastries
Ice cream
Chocolates
Breakfast cereals
Flavoured yoghurt
Sauces and ketchup
Sweetened health drinks
Packaged snacks
“Healthy-looking” does not always
mean “low in sugar.”
Reading food labels is therefore an
important habit.
Natural sugar vs added sugar
This distinction is important.
🍎 Naturally occurring sugars
These are found naturally in foods
such as:
Whole fruits
Vegetables
Milk and plain dairy products
Whole fruits also provide fibre,
vitamins, minerals and other beneficial compounds.
🍬 Added/free sugars
These include sugars added during
food preparation or processing, such as:
Table sugar
Syrups
Honey
Jaggery
Sugary beverages
Sweetened desserts and packaged
foods
Is fruit bad because it contains
sugar?
No.
This is a common misconception.
For most people, whole fruit can be
an important part of a healthy diet. The fibre and structure of whole fruit
slow eating and digestion compared with sugary beverages.
The bigger concern is fruit juice
and sugar-sweetened drinks, particularly when consumed frequently.
A useful rule:
Eat your fruit. Don't routinely
drink your sugar.
What about artificial sweeteners?
Replacing sugar with a non-sugar
sweetener may reduce sugar and calorie intake in some situations, but it does
not automatically make the overall diet healthy.
The long-term goal should not simply
be:
“How can I replace sugar?”
It should be:
“How can I gradually reduce my
preference for very sweet foods and drinks?”
Training our taste buds to enjoy
less sweetness can be a powerful lifestyle change.
Some of our traditional foods can be nutritious, but their preparation matters.
For example:
Idli + sambar + vegetable chutney can be a balanced breakfast.
But:
Idli + sweetened tea + biscuits + a sugary drink can turn breakfast into a much higher-sugar meal.
Similarly:
Plain curd + fresh fruit + nuts is very different from a heavily sweetened flavoured yoghurt or fruit dessert.
The message is not to stop eating Indian food.
It is to become more aware of how much sugar is added to it.
Sugar in your everyday cup
One of the easiest places to reduce sugar is tea and coffee.
If you drink 3 cups of tea a day and add 2 teaspoons of sugar to each cup, that is approximately:
6 teaspoons of added sugar every day — just from beverages.
Over a week, that becomes about 42 teaspoons.
You don't need to stop suddenly.
Try reducing gradually:
2 teaspoons → 1½ → 1 → ½ → less or none
Over time, your taste buds can adapt to less sweetness.
Indian sweets: enjoy, don't fear
Indian sweets are an important part of our culture and celebrations.
You don't have to completely avoid:
Laddu • Jalebi • Gulab jamun • Rasgulla • Mysore pak • Kaju katli • Peda • Halwa • Payasam
The key is portion and frequency.
A sweet occasionally is very different from having sweets, sweetened drinks and desserts every day.
Think:
Celebration food—not everyday food.
What about jaggery and honey?
A common belief is:
“Sugar is unhealthy, but jaggery and honey are healthy.”
Not quite.
Jaggery and honey may contain small amounts of minerals or other compounds, but they are still concentrated sources of sugar.
So replacing white sugar with large amounts of jaggery or honey does not make a high-sugar diet healthy.
Healthy eating is about the overall pattern, not simply changing the type of sweetener.
Better Indian swaps
Small changes can make everyday eating healthier.
A simple Indian sugar check
Before eating or drinking something sweet, ask:
“Am I actually hungry—or have I simply become used to sweetness?”
Before buying a packaged food, ask:
1. Does it contain added sugar?
2. How much sugar is in one serving?
3. How many servings will I actually
eat?
4. Is this something I need every
day?
5. Can I choose a less-sweet
alternative?
Small decisions repeated every day
can make a big difference.
How much sugar is too much?
The World Health Organization
recommends limiting free sugars to less than 10% of total daily energy intake,
with additional health benefits when intake is reduced to below 5%.
For an average 2,000-calorie diet:
10% ≈ 50 g of free
sugars/day
5% ≈ 25 g/day
These are population-level
recommendations, not a personal prescription. Individual needs can differ.
And remember: free sugar is not the
same as all carbohydrates or all naturally occurring sugars in whole foods.
Simple ways to reduce sugar
You don't have to eliminate every
sweet food overnight.
The real problem is not one spoon of
sugar
Having a sweet occasionally does not
make a person unhealthy.
The problem is the cumulative
pattern:
Sugary drink + sweetened tea +
biscuits + dessert + packaged snacks + frequent eating
When this becomes a daily routine,
the total sugar and calorie intake can become substantial.
Health is rarely determined by one
meal.
It is shaped by what we repeatedly
do.
A simple message to remember
You don't have to declare war on
sugar.
Instead:
Reduce it.
Don't drink it unnecessarily.
Read food labels.
Choose whole foods more often.
Train your taste buds to enjoy less
sweetness.
Make sweets occasional—not everyday
staples.
Because prevention is not about
never enjoying food.
It is about making healthy choices
more often than unhealthy ones.
Final thought
Sugar is not the culprit of all
illnesses.
But excess added sugar can quietly
become part of a lifestyle that increases the risk of several important health
problems.
The good news?
You don't need a perfect diet to
improve your health.
Sometimes, one of the simplest
places to start is right in your cup.
Less sugar today can be a small step
toward a healthier tomorrow.
Less sugar. More whole foods. Better health.
This article is for general health
education and does not replace individualized medical advice. People with
diabetes, prediabetes, obesity, liver disease or other medical conditions
should discuss their dietary needs with their treating doctor or qualified
dietitian.
Dr. Sunita Samleti
Senior Consultant Pathologist
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