The Netherlands is one of the top 10 countries when it comes to sugar consumption. 77% of shoppers believe that sugar is addictive (to a greater or lesser extent). Yet people are not (yet) very critical of sugar when they are actually in the supermarket.
Where the standard is 50 grams per day (1 sugar cube weighs 4,4 grams), the average Dutch person consumes an average of 102,4 grams of sugar*. There is increasing attention for sugar on the shop floor. Yet only half indicate that they regularly or always pay attention to sugar when buying food and drinks, according to GfK research into shopper attitudes and behavior towards sugar.
Calorie intake and obesity are the biggest concerns when it comes to sugar consumption. How people view sugar differs per product category. With soft drinks, people are relatively conscious of sugar and sweeteners. With 'sweets' such as chocolate candy bars, cookies and ice cream, two-thirds of buyers never pay attention to sugar and simply accept that it is in it. Tooth decay is the biggest concern in the candy category.
One reduces sugar consumption by simply buying products with large amounts of sugar less often. When the shopper does opt for a sweet product with sugar, the amount of sugar does not seem to be an issue.
Consumers are not keen on artificial sweeteners as an alternative to sugar. In fact, half of shoppers think artificial sweeteners are bad for you.
Almost a third of Dutch consumers want to pay more attention to sugar in the future. However, 60% no longer know what to believe about sugar and often find the information about sugar in products unclear.
*Source: FD Research, EHLA, Euromonitor.
About this blogger
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Known as Khun Peter (62), lives alternately in Apeldoorn and Pattaya. In a relationship with Kanchana for 14 years. Not yet retired, have my own company, something with insurance. Crazy about animals, especially dogs and music.
Enough hobbies, but unfortunately little time: writing for Thailandblog, fitness, health and nutrition, shooting sports, chatting with friends and some other oddities.
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When I was still shopping in the Netherlands, I certainly didn't look at the packaging to see how much sugar the product contained.
I actually didn't look at the ingredients list at all.
In Thailand I do, because mayonnaise with 25% sugar is definitely not suitable for human consumption.
You have to feed that to bees to make honey.
And yes, sweet is tasty, but not addictive for most people.
And yes, there will also be people who love to lick the sugar bowl and can't help it.
Still, I don't think this is really an addiction to sugar, but more an addiction to self-pleasure.
An addiction to pleasure yourself, for example with sugar.
But as another example with perfume smells.
An example of perfume smells is an old neighbor in the porch flat when I was a child.
You always knew she had gone out because the whole stairwell reeked of perfume just because she had gone out.
A large part of that sugar consumption comes from the prepared food.
The sugar is in there and you can't get it out.
Sugar consumption is one of the biggest problems in Thailand because it is in everything, even in milk.
I've just been surfing about sugar in milk, because that's been on my mind for a while. Here in Thailand, 200 grams of milk (Dutch Mill) contains 7 grams of sugar. Normally you don't get milk without sugar in the Netherlands (there is about 5% sugar in whole milk -> 200 grams, so 1 gram of sugar). Much less than in Thailand. Moreover, the sugar in Dutch milk is the "natural" sugar, in the form of lactose. This is again a problem in Asia, because many Asians are lactose intolerant. So it is replaced by (unfortunately too much) sugar.
The least sugar is here in the whole milk (dark blue cap), skimmed milk (light blue cap) even has 9 grams per 200 milliliters, see also: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/food/calories/dutch-mill-selected-milk-383546878
And while searching further, I came across interesting web pages describing many products that we consider "healthy", but where we consume a lot of sugar (I dare say that it is even more here in Thailand): http://moniquevandervloed.nl/meest-onderschatte-suikerbommen-zuivelproducten/ and also here: https://www.calcimus.be/html/voedingsinfo_melk.html
I found this as a layman. I am by no means a nutrition expert, and these are web pages that anyone can find. I do wonder how we can do something about this? Almost everything that is dairy contains sugar.
I don't mind a little sugar per se, but we're being fattened. I notice it in myself. I am sure I eat less since I live in Thailand, but my pants have already gotten scarier… 🙁
Sugar is more addictive than opium, follow this site for a while and you will come across it.
https://susanpeircethompson.com/bright-line-eating/
Sugar addiction, it is the biggest cause of obesity, with all the other nasty consequences.
In Thailand they can also do something about it, at home you can ensure that you limit sugar, with street food you can not ask for a name, that already helps enormously.
A glass of cola contains a lot of sugar, to get an idea, loosely fill your glass with sugar cubes and you know how much sugar is in that glass.
Nico B