Dumplings, sesame sweet soup, red bean drink: Hongkongers’ favourite foods in the firing line in war on sugar
Traditional foods and drinks such as pork buns, dumplings and sesame sweet soup are high in sugar - worse, in some cases, than soft drinks such as Coca-Cola - and pose risks for our health
You may be conscientiously cutting soft drinks from your diet to avoid consuming too much sugar. But did you know that steamed barbecued pork bun could be sabotaging your efforts?
Gram for gram, char siu bao pack more sugar than Coke. One steamed barbecued pork bun contains an average of 7.7 grams of sugar, according to a nutritional analysis of Chinese dim sum by the Centre for Food Safety in 2007 that sampled 10 different buns randomly purchased from food outlets in 10 different Hong Kong districts.
That works out to 14g of sugar per 100g of the bun, more than the 10.6g per 100 millilitres (or roughly 100g) of Coca-Cola.
READ MORE: Popular Hong Kong foods and their sugar content
When it comes to sugar, there are obvious culprits such as fizzy drinks and confectionery. But sugar lurks in many everyday foods not usually seen as sweet, such as canned tomatoes, salad dressings, pasta and bread.
Many popular Hong Kong foods and drinks are high in sugar, like red bean ice drink (45g per 350ml serving), steamed egg custard bun (13g per bun) and sesame sweet soup (27g per serving). However, some savoury items too are surprisingly high in sugar, such as sweet and sour pork (10.5g per 100g) and deep-fried meat dumpling (4.1g per dumpling).
Having just one steamed char siu bao washed down with red bean icy drink would exceed the recommended daily intake of free sugars of 50g for a 2,000-calorie diet. In March last year, the World Health Organisation released guidelines recommending adults and children reduce their daily intake of free sugars to less than 10 per cent of their total energy intake.
For a 2,000-calorie diet, this means sugars should make up no more than 200 calories daily, equivalent to 50g or about 12 teaspoons of sugar. A further reduction to below 5 per cent per day would provide additional health benefits, the WHO advises.