Case Studies of Human Body Requirements of Sugar, Salt, and Milkfat. A Nutritional and Chemical Review

Sugars, salt, and milkfat have different functions with reference to food and beverage productions, on the technical level. However, the use of sugars, salt, and milkfat products should be evaluated also on the basis of nutritional requirements for human diets. In other words, are these compounds or categories really needed? This chapter is dedicated to three case studies or analyses of the current knowledge concerning sugars, sodium chloride, and milkfat products in food and beverage preparations. With reference to sugars, available recommendations are mainly based on weight-related and disease-related evidences. More research is needed in this research area. With relation to salt, a general trend towards high consumption may be assumed, while lower values than accepted and recommended amounts are not a specific problem so far. Available recommendations are lowering the consumption of salt on a general level, but high consumption can be still observed so far. Finally, available dietary recommendations concerning the necessity of lowering cholesterol intake and chemical profiles of milkfat should be evaluated product by product (by means of the nutritional label) and also considering the class of consumer. More efforts are surely needed in this ambit.