Almost 200 years ago, our ancestors ate only about 2 teaspoons of sugar per day. About 100 years ago, people considered sugar a luxury and got their sweetness from fruit. Today the average person eats about 40 teaspoons a day. One teaspoon of sugar is roughly 4 grams; most food labels list sugar in grams. In 2005, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggested a limit of 8 teaspoons of sugar per day, about 32 grams.
Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup are Bad Carbs
The problem with sugar, also called sucrose, and food it is in – like sodas, fruit drinks, candy bars, cakes, cookies, donuts, pies and other sugary desserts – is that the body quickly converts sugar to the body’s energy, glucose (blood sugar). Then the hormone insulin is pumped into the blood stream to escort glucose to the cells for energy use.
The result is that the blood sugar level goes way down and a few hours later one is hungry again. A much healthier plan, to avoid the path to diabetes, is to keep the level of glucose and insulin balanced by eating food that slowly digests – fruits and vegetables. A rating system that takes into account how rapidly food will digest, is the essence of the glycemic index.
High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is really corn sugar, and it has a similar composition to sugar, roughly half sucrose and half fructose. Developed in the 1970s, it was cheaper to produce than sugar, and increased profits. In the news lately, sugar and HFCS have been having a bit of a war. Some food businesses have been replacing HFCS with sugar. The American Dietetic Association says that both are equally bad and that the problem is consuming too much of either one.
Sugar Causes Weight Gain
In the April 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a research study found that sugar-sweetened beverages accounted for 37% of all liquid calories of the volunteers. The results over 18 months showed that out of 810 people, those who cut liquid sugar calories lost weight, and it made a difference even more than cutting solid food calories. The main culprits of the sugar-sweetened drinks were regular sodas and juice drinks.
The American Heart Association Speaks
The American Heart Association has gone on record, in the August 2009 issue of the journal Circulation, to recommend that Americans cut added sugar consumption in their diets. The organization believes the main source of excess sugar is, like above, from soft drinks and juice drinks. To promote heart health and to deter weight gain, they strongly suggest that women limit sugar eating to 5 teaspoons daily, and men limit added sugar to 9 teaspoons. For reference, a 12 oz cola contains 8 teaspoons of sugar.
A Sugar Tax
As part of the health care discussion going on in the USA, politicians were exploring a penny-an-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (but have now dropped the debate). The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention maintains the tax could cut soft drink consumption by 10 percent and raise $100 billion over 10 years.
Cut Sugar and be Healthy
Excess sugar and HFCS consumption can lead to weight gain, poor heart health and risk of diabetes. It would help the American weight crisis if fruit – like strawberries, watermelon, oranges, kiwi and more – became the standard for dessert as it was 100 years ago, instead of sugar-filled pies, cakes and cookies. In addition, soft drinks and juice drinks are the liquid calories regularly blamed for contributing to adults' and children’s poor health.
Reference
“The Safest, Best Sugar Substitute.” Suite 101, accessed September 23, 2009.
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