Black coffee tastes bitter, but it actually contains sugar? Nutrition professor: Be careful about adding "this kind of sugar" to gain weight

Black coffee tastes bitter, but it actually contains sugar? There is a popular saying that "black coffee is a high-sugar drink and consuming it may cause you to step on a high-sugar landmine!" Is this really true? The nutrition professor pointed out that although black coffee contains sugar, the sugar content of black coffee is very low. You don’t have to worry about gaining weight just by drinking two more cups of black coffee. The usual culprit that leads to obesity is the addition of too much fructose, sugar and other refined sugars.

Every 100 grams of black coffee contains only 0.5 to 1 gram of sugar

Wang Jinkun, professor of the Department of Nutrition at Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences, said that coffee beans will naturally release very small amounts of small molecules of sugar during the ripening process. Therefore, the black coffee we drink still contains sugar, but the content is very low, with only 0.5 to 1 gram of sugar per 100 grams of coffee. There is also concern that coffee beans contain starch, but starch is a large molecular polymer and is insoluble in water, so it is not released during the coffee brewing process.

Long-term excessive intake of sugar can easily cause insulin to lose its ability to regulate blood sugar

Black coffee itself has very low sugar content, and the culprit that usually causes obesity is the added refined sugar. Professor Wang Jinkun pointed out that if the intake of sugar exceeds the recommended amount for a long time, since sugar molecules are small and easily absorbed, insulin can be over-stimulated and cause resistance. Since the main function of insulin is to help sugar in food enter cells smoothly and provide energy to the human body, if a large amount of sugar is consumed at one time, blood sugar will rise rapidly and the body must secrete a large amount of insulin to process the blood sugar.

Black coffee itself has very low sugar content, and the culprit that usually causes obesity is the added refined sugar.

Professor Wang Jinkun further explained that a large amount of insulin will cause excess glucose in the blood to be converted into fat storage, which will then cause a strong sense of hunger due to the rapid drop in blood sugar concentration, triggering another wave of desire to eat. In the long run, it will cause insulin resistance and loss of the ability to regulate blood sugar, and in severe cases may lead to diabetes.

How to consume sugar correctly without excessive intake? The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that the daily intake of refined sugar per person should be controlled below 25 grams, which is no more than 5 sugar cubes. For those who want to "quit sugar", they might as well start with the current domestic recommended daily amount of no more than 50 grams, equivalent to 10 sugar cubes, and then reduce it further after getting used to it.

Professor Wang Jinkun said that in fact, as long as the nutrition is balanced, the human body does not need additional sugar. If people feel that black coffee is too bitter and difficult to drink, they may add less refined brown sugar or black sugar containing trace minerals to the black coffee to enhance the flavor.

Limit caffeine intake to less than 300 mg per day

Although black coffee contains very little sugar, because it contains caffeine, people should follow the principle of moderation when drinking black coffee in order to truly drink it in a healthy way. Currently, freshly brewed coffee in China is labeled with red, yellow, and green to distinguish the caffeine content. "Red" means the total caffeine content per cup is more than 200 mg, "yellow" means the total caffeine content per cup is 100 to 200 mg, and "green" means the total caffeine content per cup is less than 100 mg.

Although black coffee contains very little sugar, because it contains caffeine, people should follow the principle of moderation when drinking black coffee in order to truly drink it in a healthy way.

According to the European Food Science Expert Committee, daily caffeine intake should be controlled below 300 mg. When people drink coffee, don’t forget to pay attention to the caffeine content label and calculate how much caffeine they have consumed. Drinking it in moderation will not put a burden on the body.