You have seen the recipes of Baik Jon-won on his TV program titled ‘My Little Television'? When he cooks on TV, live chat comments of his broadcast are filled with the comment 'use sugar!' As evident of these comment boxes, the recipes of Chef Baik are famous of using lots of sugar. He wants to inform people of easy food recipes that cook delicious foods, and sugar can easily add good flavor to foods so he usually uses lots of it in his recipes.
However, although sugar is good for adding delicious flavor, it is not good for your health, as you know. Korean people already intakes about 60 grams of sugar every day which is over the daily recommended limit of 50 grams set by the World Health Organization (WHO). This amount greatly increased when compare to with Korean’s daily intake of 49.9 grams in 2008. In addition, teenager’s intake is more than 70 grams of sugar per day which exceeds by 140% of the recommended daily allowance. University students (aged 20~29) also intake 65.7 grams per day. Specifically, the main sugar source for university students is coffee and caffeinated drinks. University students often drink coffee to clean their palate or to help them concentrate on their studies. The fruit favored soju is now a new sugar source. It is popular among students because of its sweet and mild favor. To make this taste and to cover the bitter taste of soju, so much sugar and additives are needed. Accordingly, there are about 40 grams of sugars per bottle of sweet flavored soju.
As you can see, Korean's preference for sweetness is increasing more and more over time. However, the high intake of sugar can cause many health problems. When people consume sugar, their blood sugar level increases and their brain receives the body’s signal and secretes hormones such as dopamine and serotonin that deliver happiness and pleasure. This is good for people in moderate amounts, but if the amounts become excessive, people can become addicted on sugar. People who have a sugar addiction are at high risk for depression when they don't eat sugar because of the decrease of dopamine and serotonin levels in their body. Also, if people consume lots of sugar, they are susceptible to many diseases such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, vessel disease and lethargy.
Modern people who are busy and tired may wants to increase their happiness and relieve their stress by consuming sugar. But it can cause many health problems and cannot be the solution, so I recommend some tips to reduce your sugar intake.
