New Report Targets Added Sugars

Will Americans sour on higher-priced sweets?

Sugar has been making headlines recently, and the news is anything but sweet for a nation addicted to its soft drinks and candy bars. Earlier this month, some of the U.S.’s largest food companies wrote a letter to Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack lobbying for more lenient import restrictions on sugar and claiming that unless policy changes are  made“our nation will virtually run out of sugar.”

Well, according to a new scientific report from the American Heart Association, the U.S. could stand to do with less sugar in its diet. The association has released recommendations on the consumption of added sugars, which are sugars and syrups added during the processing of food and also at the table. These sugars differ from those that naturally occur, and a high intake of them, according to the statement’s lead author, Rachel K. Johnson, is implicated in a laundry list of health problems, from obesity and high blood pressure to heart disease and stroke.

“Sugar has no nutritional value other than to provide calories,” says Johnson, PhD., M.P.H., R.D, associate provost and professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington, in a press release announcing the statement, which was released in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association. “Consuming foods and beverages with excessive amounts of added sugars displaces more nutritious foods and beverages for many people.”

So how much is too much?

According to the statement, women shouldn’t consume more than 100 calories of added sugars on a daily basis; for men, a maximum of 150 calories per day. That’s not much.

“One 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 130 calories and eight teaspoons of sugar,” according to Johnson.In their letter to the Obama administration, the food industry leaders warn of higher prices for consumers if import quotas on tariff-free sugar are not eased. Perhaps if Americans won’t heed the advice of the AHA, they will think twice about having a soda or candy bar if the price is drastically inflated. Whether they’re thinking with their pocketbooks or their heads, cutting back on added sugars is a no-brainer.

Posted by David_at_Health on Monday, August 31, 2009 11:59 AM