food & me

Americans eat a LOT of sugar. Regardless of what you call it – high fructose corn syrup, molasses, sucrose – it’s still there. Here’s a list of 50 different names for sugar that can be found on nutrition labels. America’s love affair with sugar is just as strong as its attraction to salt. As our love for sugar grows, so do our waistlines. As is the case with salt, our impulsive tendency to make food decisions based primarily on taste results in our overconsumption of sugar. The rising rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes has been bad PR for high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) which is an “added sugar” found in many, many processed foods including cereals, ketchup and soda. As a result, the Corn Refiners Association made a bid to change the name of HFCS to “corn sugar”. And yesterday the FDA said, uh….no.

To get a better picture of just how much sugar we really get from soft drinks, let’s look at the nutrition facts for America’s favorite soda, Coke, which, according to Beverage Digest, topped the 2009 Top-10 list of soft drink brands. According to the nutrition label for Coke, a typical 20-ounce bottle is about two servings. The serving size should serve as your first eye-opener. Did you have any idea that one bottle contained more than a single serving? That one serving contains 27 grams of sugar, or a little more than 6 teaspoons!

The American Heart Association recommends that women who eat
a balanced diet consisting of about 2,000 calories per day consume less than 6
teaspoons (24 grams or 100 calories) of added sugar per day. Men are allowed a
little more sugar than women, roughly 9 teaspoons (36 grams or 150 calories) of
added sugar per day. You see, there is room for sugar in a healthful diet.
However, too much added sugar is a threat to optimal health.

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Truth is, most Americans don’t stop at just one serving but drink the whole bottle of cola, containing roughly 54 grams (13.5 teaspoons) of sugar. If you’re a woman and you drink one 20-ounce bottle of Coke, you’ve already consumed more than two times the recommended daily allowance for sugar; and if you’re a man, you’ve exceeded the daily allowance.

Added sugar isn’t just the sugar you dip a spoon into to sweeten your coffee or cereal. The catch-all term “added sugar” also includes sweeteners and syrups added to food during processing and preparation to make them tastier. Added sugars may be listed as cane sugar, beet sugar, sucrose, corn syrup, highfructose corn syrup, corn sugar, glucose, and honey. Added sugar is
also found in some unexpected places, like crackers and bread.

Although a lot of added sugar can be gained from soda, it isn’t the only concerning source of sugar in American diets. Because sugar is so prevalent in processed foods, let’s consider sources of hidden sugar that may be lurking around in your diet. Let’s say, for example, that you start your day with breakfast and coffee from Starbucks. A Grande Caramel Macchiato and a Banana Bran Muffin sounds tasty, right? Yes, but not so fast. This combination may taste good, but the pair stacks pretty high in sugar when compared to the recommended daily allowance. A Grande Caramel Macchiato contains 31 grams (8 teaspoons) of sugar, and the muffin contains 36 grams (9 teaspoons). Remember, the recommended daily allowance for sugar is no more than 6 teaspoons for women and no more than 9 teaspoons for men.

Processed foods rich in sugar and saturated fats, like cookies and cakes, are calorie dense and provide little to no nutritive value. Nutrient-dense foods like low-fat milk, fresh fruit and some vegetables also contain sugar, but these natural sugars offer the body beneficial nutrients, unlike added sugars that simply provide empty calories.

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