Added sugar – so much confusion

Added sugar.  We have all heard about added sugar but so many people are confused as to what foods have added sugar, how to know if a food has a lot or a little added sugar.  At the gym this week a mom was giving her toddler some Cheerios as a snack.  Good choice as Cheerios are easy to eat and very healthy.  Then the mom said she avoids the Goldfish as they are too high in sugar.  I asked, “even the whole grain Goldfish?”.  She didn’t know about that.  I came home looked up Goldfish.  The Goldfish Cheddar has 0 Sugar grams.  The ingredient list does list “sugar” but it must be an amount less than 4 calories as the label says 0 grams of sugar.  I then looked up Baked with Whole Grain Cheddar and again sugars = 0 grams.  The ingredient list has no sugar listed.  The first ingredient is Whole Wheat Flour so it is a healthy choice.  The crackers also contain real Cheddar Cheese and some heart healthy oil.  I couldn’t find a reason not to served these fun crackers to kids.

No added sugar - a healthy snack for kids

Why are people so confused about “added sugar”? 

Many people hear things like Goldfish are high in sugar but then don’t check it out.  Or, they look at the label, see “sugar” and think this means “added sugar”.  Many foods have naturally present sugar.  Milk has lactose, fruit has fructose.  Plain white milk will show “Total sugars 12 grams” but newer labels also show “added sugars 0 grams” which means no sugar has been added.  To know if a food has “added sugar” look at the nutrition label.  If it is one of the new labels it will clearly state “added sugars”.  You can also look at the ingredients.  If sugar is added, it will be listed in the ingredients.  But it may not just say “sugar” as sugar includes high fructose corn syrup, brown sugar, sucrose, molasses, cane sugar, corn sweetener, raw sugar, syrup, honey.    If one of these “sugars” is the first or second ingredient, it means the food contains a lot of added sugar.

Look for added sugars on food labels

How much “added sugar” should we have in our diets?

One of the Key Recommendations of the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines is “Consume less than 10 percent of calories per day from added sugars”.  It doesn’t say no added sugar, but to limit the amount of added sugar foods we eat.  It also doesn’t say to cut back on fruit or milk with naturally present “sugar”.  Or, you can go by how many teaspoons of added sugar you can have a day.  The American Heart Association recommends we limit our “added sugar” to 9 teaspoons a day (150 calories) for men and 6 teaspoons a day (100 calories) for women.   Have that one can of 12 ounce sugared soda and you have added 8 teaspoons of added sugar to your day, about 130 calories and zero nutritional value.  On average, Americans consume 17 teaspoons of added sugar a day – well over the recommended amount.

Soda - a sugar sweetened beverage

What foods have “added sugar”?,

Most of the foods we buy have some sugar added.  A study from the University of North Carolina found that 68% of US foods and beverages we purchase contain sweeteners with calories and about 2% of the food had low-calorie sweeteners.  Sugar-sweetened beverages – the soda (pop), fruit punches, fruit drinks, energy drinks, lemonade, sweetened ice tea are high in added sugars.  Other commonly eaten foods with added sugar include:  candy, cakes, pies, ice cream, sweetened yogurt, syrup on pancakes, sugared cereals, sugared waffles, cinnamon toast, peanut butter and even catsup and spaghetti sauce.  Many of us eat our daily supply of added sugars in our meals or beverages even before we get to eating the dessert, we know has added sugar in it. 

Why the concern about “added sugar”?

When we eat foods with naturally present sugar like a banana, there isn’t a sugar rush.  The fiber in the banana slows the rate we absorb the fructose in the banana.  We also get a lot of healthy nutrients from the banana.  Drink a sugar sweetened beverage and the sugar is absorbed rapidly.  Harvard notes when we eat too much added sugar it has an impact on our risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes.  Also, it has an impact on our heart health.  A study in JAMA Internal Medicine found a relationship between consumption of added sugar and heart disease.   Dr. Hu, a coauthor has stated, “Basically, the higher the intake of added sugar, the higher the risk for heart disease”. 

So, the mother at the gym was right to think about added sugar in her toddler’s food.  But she didn’t understand how to figure out what foods have and don’t have a lot of added sugar.  No need to give up the Goldfish, but the sugar-sweetened beverages, the fruit punch, and other foods high is added sugars are worth watching.  I like desserts and have no intention of giving up all the added sugar in my diet, although I do watch how much added sugar I eat each day.  Interesting to note, there are people who have taken the 28-Day Sugar-Free Challenge.  Next week we will look at people who have gone on this challenge, why they did so and what their experiences were.  

Foods with added sugar

Sources:  Goldfish, Cheddar, sugar, Dietary Guidelines, added sugar, consume, study, foods, Harvard, JAMA Internal Medicine, stated  Image sources:  soda, Food label, Added sugar foods