What I Learned Shopping For Cough Drops
Key takeaways
Reading the nutrition label on the back of the package of anything you buy will enable you to make healthier food choices
Sugar is a prime example of a sneaky, pervasive ingredient you’re likely to find in packaged foods
So what did I find shopping for cough drops? I found sugar! Processed sugar is not a healing food, so why is it listed (sometimes as the first ingredient!) in our cough drops?
The answer is palatability. Palatability and the addictive qualities of processed ingredients is another blog post…coming to your inbox in the future.
What’s the problem with sugar?
“Sugar is highly palatable and rewarding, both in its taste and nutritive input. Excessive sugar consumption, however, may trigger neuroadaptations in the reward system that decouple eating behavior from caloric needs and leads to compulsive overeating. Excessive sugar intake is in turn associated with adverse health conditions, including obesity, metabolic syndrome, and inflammatory diseases.” [source]
I hear the voice in your head: “well, my sugar intake is not excessive.”
“Many recent international recommendations have expressed concerns about sugar consumption in Westernized societies, as current consumption levels represent quantities with no precedent during hominin evolution.
In both adults and children, the World Health Organization strongly recommends reducing free sugar intake to <10% of total energy intake and suggests a further reduction to below 5%.
Most studies have focused on the deleterious effects of Western dietary patterns on global health and the intestine. Whereas excessive dietary fat consumption is well studied, the specific impact of sugar is poorly described, while refined sugars represent up to 40% of caloric intake within industrialized countries.
However, high sugar intake is associated with multiple tissue and organ dysfunctions.” [source]
Natural sugars in whole fruit should not be of concern in the context of excessive sugar intake and chronic disease. I wrote about this previously. If you have health issues, as always, consult a doctor who is also an expert in nutrition.
No matter the diet you follow, I recommend taking the time to read the label of everything you buy.
Reading labels is a new habit that can be built.
Here’s what I learned when I went to Whole Foods to buy cough drops.
If you read my Your Body: Sick post, you’ll know that I came down with a cold recently. I decided to buy some cough drops. I’ve convinced myself the extra zinc boost is helpful — a number of brands include zinc in their cough drops.
I didn’t see my go-to lozenge, which is Zand Elderberry Zinc. Each lozenge has 2 grams of sugar. The sweetener is brown rice syrup.
So I looked at 3 other brands. Ricola, Nature’s Way Sambucus Elderberry, and Beekeeper’s Naturals. I didn’t see the Ricola sugar-free lozenges, but I see from Amazon that these contain asparatame, which I would not recommend — you can read more about asparatame and all kinds of health issues here and cancer here. Personally, it’s not worth the risk.
The Ricola original cough drops have 3.2 grams of sugar coming from starch syrup and “sugar.” The first ingredient listed is “color (caramel).” Ambiguous ingredients in our food system is not a good thing.
The Nature’s Way Sambucus Elderberry also has 2 grams of sugar. It contains organic tapioca syrup and organic cane sugar. I was turned off by the cane sugar, but it’s possible that it’s no worse than the brown rice syrup in the Zand lozenges.
I went with the Beekeeper’s Naturals Peppermint Eucalyptus lozenges. Each lozenge has 1 gram of sugar. The sweeteners are tapioca syrup and honey.
Sugar is pervasive in packaged-foods, including many you’d never suspect. Is there sugar in a dessert? Sure, we expect that. Do we need sugar in our almond milk? I wouldn’t recommend it.
Options to avoid processed sugar altogether when you’re sick:
Make ginger or lemon tea. Add a high quality honey.
Not sure whether or not your sugar intake is high?
I’ll continue to recommend trying an app like Cronometer to get a baseline for whether or not your getting the macro and micro-nutrients your body needs, including fiber, vitamins and minerals.
These are the nutrients shown to supply our cells and our systems with what they need to thrive..and to recover more quickly when we catch a virus.
Even a single day of tracking can provide useful information, and knowledge is power.
Do you read food labels before you buy? Would you like more content on what to look for and how to evaluate food labels? Let me know in the comments below!
Additional Resources
EWG.org food scores searchable database
Honey as a cough suppressant
Thanks for reading!
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