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Time
to tame your sweet tooth
March 20, 03
Suzanne Havala Hobbs
I
love sugar. I love sweets.
Having grown up in a home where every
supper featured two desserts, I know the
challenge of having a sweet tooth.
But our country's expanding appetite for
sweets needs close attention.
Sugar, at least in the form that is added
to mass-produced foods and soft drinks,
is a relative newcomer to our diets. As
recently as 150 years ago, sugar was an
expensive commodity that few people could
afford – and enjoy.
That has changed dramatically. And those
changes present us with new risks to our
health.
Per capita sugar intake rose 28 percent
during the last two decades, according to
the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Most
of us now consume 20 teaspoons of added
sugar per day – twice the upper
limit recommended by the USDA. A recent
report from the World Health Organization
recommends people limit added sugar
intake to only 10 percent of total
calories – about 50 grams a day for
someone on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Too much sugar is a problem from several
angles.
Sugary foods displace more nutritious
foods. Data from the USDA show that
people with high intakes of sugar eat
fewer fruits and vegetables. Not
surprisingly, they also get less calcium,
fiber, folate, vitamins A, C, E, zinc,
magnesium and iron.
That's bad news, because these nutrients
help protect against osteoporosis,
cancer, and coronary artery disease.
Just as important, studies show that high
sugar intakes are associated with
obesity.
For example, a recent report by the World
Health Organization says that one
additional daily serving of a sweetened
drink increases a child's risk of
becoming obese by 60 percent.
In fact, soft drinks account for 33
percent of the added sugar in the typical
Americans diet, making them the No. 1
contributor of excess sugar. Largely
because of the popularity of soft drinks,
teen boys in our country average an
incredible 34 teaspoons of added sugar
every day.
A hurdle we all face when trying to cut
back on added sugar is that food labels
only give figures for total sugar,
without specifying how much of that
amount is in the form of added sugar.
Added sugar means any sugar not naturally
found in a food. Fruit contains natural
sugars, for instance, but some brands of
fruit juice are sweetened with
high-fructose corn syrup, an added sugar.
Pre-sweetened breakfast cereal is another
example of a food with added sugar.
You can spot the added sugars by
scrutinizing ingredient lists for
high-fructose corn syrup, corn sweetener,
dextrose, fructose, fruit juice
concentrate, glucose, honey, invert
sugar, lactose, malt syrup, maltose,
molasses and other forms of sugar.
Follow these tips for reducing your
intake of added sugar:
• Kick the soft drink habit. Think
of soft drinks as “liquid
candy.” One 12-ounce can has more
than 10 teaspoons of sugar and is
nutritionally bankrupt. Instead, drink
water – including seltzer – 100
percent fruit juice, nonfat milk, soymilk
or rice milk.
• Limit other sweet drinks. That
includes sweetened tea and sweetened
fruit drinks and cocktails. Fruitopia,
Snapple, and similar drinks contain a
minimal amount of fruit juice and aren't
much better for you than soft drinks.
• Cut back on sweet treats and
snacks, such as cakes, cookies, pies,
doughnuts, granola bars, ice cream,
candy, and pastries. Eat fruit instead or
snack on small amounts of leftovers from
wholesome meals.
• Reduce the amount of sugar you use
at home. You can often get away with
cutting the sugar in recipes by as much
as half.
• Go out for sweets instead of
bringing them home. Order an ice cream
cone when you really have a hankering,
rather than keeping a half-gallon of ice
cream in the house. At restaurants, where
portion sizes can be huge, split dessert
with a companion.
A little sugar here and there isn't a
problem, but a lot on a daily basis is.
Most of us need to cut our intakes by
half or more. Reflect on your own eating
habits and figure out where you might
start.
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