But sweet, plentiful calories are no longer rare, and our taste buds' helpful direction has become outdated.Added sugarhas snuck into all sorts of sweetandsavory foods, from sandwich bread to frozen dinners. And we’re eating a whole lot of it. Americans currently get 13% of their total daily calories from ingredients like table sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, honey and other added sweeteners. That’s about 17 teaspoons worth, or 68 grams. (Natural sugarsfound in fruits, vegetables and dairy products are not considered added. Plus, these foods come with other nutrients that make them healthy.) TheDietary Guidelines for Americansrecommend that we limit consumption of added sugars to less than 10% of the calories we eat each day, or about 12 teaspoons (48 grams) for a 2,000-calorie diet. But many experts say we should probably get even less to reduce our risk for health conditions linked to excess sugar consumption, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cavities.
What’s the Big Deal About Sugar?.
That panel could indeed be a useful tool in helping people cut back. Starting this year, the Nutrition Facts must specify how many grams of the total sugars in a product areaddedsugars, as well as the percent Daily Value of calories they account for. Prior to this it was impossible to tell if the sugars in a food or beverage were added or the naturally occurring type, since only total sugars were listed. (Natural sugars + added sugars = total sugars.)
Disclthe information about the preventable cases of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diease, though, disclosing this info could also result in an estimated net savings of $31 billion in health care costs over the same period. The reason: people will read labels and chooselower-sugar options; and if demand prompts food companies to cut the amount of sugar in their products, the reduction in disease and health care costs would be even greater. In fact, many manufacturers have already reformulated their products in anticipation of the new labeling requirements. “It can be a very powerful tool, because it educates the consumer,” says Micha. “And food companies need to be able to provide that option to them.”
So, if you’re among those looking to eat less sweet, you’ve come to the right place. Consider this your guide to all-things-sugar, including what it does in your body, the health perks of curbing your intake and brilliant little ways to slash it from your diet—and still have your pie too. We’ll even share the recipe.
The Voorhes
Sugar Nutrition Facts & Basics
Sugar is a simple carbohydrate, and there are many different types. For example, glucose (a primary component in honey) and fructose (found in fruits and root veggies) are mono saccharides, which can’t be broken down into smaller sugar molecules. Lactose (in dairy products) and sucrose (white sugar) are disaccharides, meaning they’re composed of two monosaccharides linked together. High fructose corn syrup (added to all sorts of processed foods) is also made of two monosaccharides, fructose and glucose, but they aren’t chemically bonded and thus don’t need to be broken down during digestion—one reason HFCS may get absorbed into the bloodstream more readily. Many foods contain more than one kind of sugar.
Your body’s cells normally run on glucose. When you eat a dessert or another food with sugars in it, enzymes in the digestive process break them apart—sucrose, for instance, becomes glucose and fructose— and the monosaccharides enter your bloodstream. The pancreas senses blood sugar levels rising and releases insulin, signaling your cells to take up that glucose for energy and causing blood sugar levels to drop back down. Frequent shots of glucose into the bloodstream from sugary beverages and foods (particularly ultra-processed ones) make blood sugar levels shoot up quickly and then plummet, which can lead to weight gain, type 2 diabetes and other health issues.
Fructose, on the other hand, is processed mostly in the liver. When this organ receives excess fructose, like from the HFCS in soda, it uses it to make fat that is stored in the liver. In excess, this can cause nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, resulting in inflammation and cirrhosis. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease affects up to 24% of all adults in the U.S.
This isn’t true of produce based items that lack their food matrix, like 100% fruit juice— in this case, the fiber has been stripped out. While juice does supply vitamins and antioxidants, Mattes says your body will treat its natural sugars the same way it does the added ones in a Big Gulp.
The Debate over the Dietary Guidelines
TheDietary Guidelines for Americans,2020-2025upheld the same advice on added sugars as the 2015-2020 edition—and that the World Health Organization gave even earlier. “The World Health Organization recommended added sugars contribute no more than 10% of the calories in your daily diet based on research on the link between sugar and dental caries, and this later became a guideline for weight management as well,” says Purdue University’s Richard Mattes, who was a member of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s Beverages and Added Sugars Subcommittee. At the time, tooth decay was the primary health consideration—not other negative outcomes, such as type 2 diabetes.
But theUnited States Department of Agriculture (USDA)andDepartment of Health and Human Services (DHHS)—which ultimately set the Dietary Guidelines for Americans—decided to stick with the higher 10% number. “There was not a preponderance of evidence in the Committee’s review of studies since the 2015-2020 edition to substantiate changes to the quantitative limits,” the agencies wrote in a response to the report.
Mattes points out that because there’s no physiological need for added sugar, “The members of my committee still believe that 6% is the better target. It sends a stronger message to the public that reducing added sugars would be a healthful decision.” TheAmerican Heart Associationalso recommends keeping added sugars to about 6%—or no more than 25 grams a day for women and 36 grams for men. However, because Americans already consume about 13% of daily calories from added sugar (about 68 grams), many experts note thatanyreduction is important.
Top Sugar Questions
Is sugar addictive?
Nope. Itdoestrigger your brain’s reward system, releasing the pleasure neurotransmitter dopamine and encouraging you to eat. Sugar can also lead to cravings. “But there is an order of magnitude difference in the neurochemical response to sweeteners versus drugs of addiction,” says Mattes. “And the evidence in humans is far from compelling.” The term “emotional eating” may be a better descriptor of an unhealthy relationship with sugar. Or it could just be habit. “The more somebody eats sugar, the more it becomes part of their daily routine and their brain actually looks forward to having that sweetness,” says Laura Andromalos, M.S., RD, clinical nutrition manager at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. “That’s the challenge: how do we help people find other ways to find pleasure in food and in life without requiring so much sugar?”
Naturally occurring sugars like maple syrup, honey and agave are better for you than straight sugar, right?
“Basically, sugar is sugar,” says the Mayo Clinic’s Jason Ewoldt. “At the end of the day, if you have maple syrup or table sugar, it’s all going to do the same thing as far as what happens inside your body.” (It’s that lack of food matrix again.) That said, natural sweeteners offer some additional nutrients—maple syrup, for example, has manganese and riboflavin. “And people might find more pleasure in them be cause they have so much flavor and be able to enjoy smaller portions,” says Andromalos.
Can sugar substitutes help you control you weight?
Yes, at least in the short term. “Nonnutritive sweetenerscould be a really important steppingstone for people who consume a lot of sugar and are working on ways to cut back,” says Andromalos. But the goal, she adds, would be to eventually reduce artificial sweetener intake as well. A 2020 analysis of 20 longer term randomized controlled trials found that among people with overweight or obesity, those who ate nonnutritive sweeteners such as sucralose instead of sugar lost a significant amount of weight without dieting—an average of around 6 pounds. (Other nonnutritive sweeteners include saccharin, monk fruit, acesulfame potassium, neotame, advantame and stevia.) “There are people who believe passionately that low calorie sweeteners are problematic. But the overwhelming preponderance of evidence does not support that view,” says Mattes. “The evidence indicates that these sweeteners are relatively neutral, or that they’re beneficial. Given that there are so few tools available to people who are trying to moderate energy intake, it was the view of the DGA committee that this should be an option they could explore.”
Are sugar-sweetened beverages particularly unhealthy?
Was this page helpful?Thanks for your feedback!Tell us why!OtherSubmit
Was this page helpful?
Thanks for your feedback!
Tell us why!OtherSubmit
Tell us why!
