Sweet unto death

“Americans are eating and drinking too much added sugars which can lead to health problems such as weight gain and obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. To live healthier, longer lives, most need to move more and eat better including getting fewer calories from added sugars.” 

These words from your Centers for Disease Control (CDC) echo those of the American Diabetes Association (ADA), American Heart Association (AHA), and many academic organizations such as Harvard Health.

The sad truth is that sugar, in excess, is a toxin. And to make things worse, to many, it is addictive.

First a few definitions. We are talking here only of added sugars, those used by food processors during preparation to increase the allure of their product. Natural sugars, such as those found in fruit or milk, are not the issue.

Added sugars take many forms. You would need to carefully check package nutrition labels and ingredients to even know you are consuming a sugar. For instance: anhydrous dextrose, brown sugar, confectioner's powdered sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses nectars (e.g., peach nectar, pear nectar) raw sugar, and sucrose are all sugars.

The scope of the problem is huge. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, as of 2015 (last year full data available) there were 129 pounds of caloric sweeteners (sugar, corn syrup, etc.) available per person. While some folks consume far less than the average, some consume far more. Since a pound of sugar is about 87 teaspoons, that 129 pounds per year equates to 30 teaspoons per day. To put that in perspective, the recommendation is that men should limit their consumption of added sugars to 9 teaspoons per day, and only 6 for women and children.

Here’s another quote (from Harvard Health) that may focus some of your attention. “Over the course of the 15-year study on added sugar and heart disease, participants who took in 25% or more of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those whose diets included less than 10% added sugar. Overall, the odds of dying from heart disease rose in tandem with the percentage of sugar in the diet—and that was true regardless of a person’s age, sex, physical activity level, and body-mass index.”

This means that even if you are young, slim, and in good physical health, your risk of dying of heart disease is increased if you consume excess sugars. So much the worse if you are, like many of us, older, a bit pudgy, or lack six-pack abs.

Keep in mind that the greatest threat to your health comes from the sugars added to processed foods. So what can we do to minimize the damage, and try to meet the 9-teaspoon and 6-teaspoon limits for men and women (and children) respectively?

Like any other addiction, this is going to take a bit of effort, but the resultant health benefits are more than worth it. Try these ideas.

1.        Consider changing your breakfast cereal. Shredded wheat, sweetened with blueberries or bananas, has no added sugars, while some processed cereals contain 4 teaspoons or more of sugar per serving
2.        Try zero-calorie flavored water drinks instead of green iced tea, which can contain up to 8 teaspoons of sugar per bottle.
3.        Do you like your coffee sweet? The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has recognized that aspartame and saccharin-based sweeteners are safe substitutes.
4.        Switch to Coke Zero from regular Coke and save over 8 teaspoons of sugar per 12-ounce can.
5.        If you like chocolate, try to acclimate yourself to the 90% cocoa variety with no added sugar. Surprisingly, this is a high-fiber food and quite tasty to boot.

Here is an easy nutrition-label decision to make when you are shopping for any food item. Based on a Harvard Health study, you should select foods whose dietary fiber (in grams) is at least ten percent or more of total carbohydrates. This will do two things. It will help you select high-fiber foods, and it will automatically disqualify items that have an inordinate amount of added sugars. Both the ADA and AHA will applaud your choice.

Like everything else in life, the key is moderation. After all, you can’t be asked to give up that occasional donut, can you? Of course not.

Just ensure that it is truly occasional.