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Hidden in Plain Sight
Hidden in Plain Sight
There are at least 61 different names for sugar listed on food labels.
How exactly do these sugars take part in our daily diet ?
Why is so much sugar placed in drinks?
Caffeine is bitter. Most people address this by adding sugar to caffeinated beverages.
Straight coffee (no milk, no sugar) is zero-calorie and sugar-free, but bitter so it is sweetened to improve flavor.
Energy Drinks contain lots of sugar, particularly those that are juice/soda combinations.
Some of the most popular 16 fl oz energy drinks contain around 40-55 grams of sugar. This is about 8-11 teaspoons of sugar.
Lets look into some major food items in these respective categories and the amount of sugar they each contain
Dr. Alan Greene, a pediatrician who sits on the board of the Institute for Responsible Nutrition, says sugar-sweetened beverages, along with cakes, cookies, and ice cream, are the major offenders, but hidden sources of added sugars are also a concern.
“What happens is that Americans are having dessert several times a day and don’t know it.”
There are numerous other ways added sweeteners sneak into the American diet. Starting off the day with something like low-fat yogurt, fruit juice, cereal, or a granola bar may sound like a smart choice, but these healthy-sounding foods can pack hidden sugars.
For foods, the main offenders are obvious: syrups, candy, cakes, cookies, and dairy desserts like ice cream. One Fruit & Maple Oatmeal contains 32 grams of sugar. A Coca-Cola Classic Large contains 76 grams, A McFlurry with M&Ms candies contains a whopping 128 grams of sugar that is 3.5 times the daily recommended sugar intake.
Sugar-Sweetened Beverages and Consumption
Sugar-sweetened beverages are any liquids that are sweetened with various forms of added sugars like brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, and sucrose.
Wonder which state purchases the highest SSB's ?
There is considerable variation in per capita SSB purchases across states from an estimated annual 89.1 L in Hawaii to 196.1 L in Missouri.
Nine states, including 7 from the Midwest and 2 from the South, exceed the average SSB purchase levels by more than a 27.3 L
Large regional differences in per capita purchases are also observed for other types of beverages, including higher per capita levels for energy drinks in the West, sports drinks in the South, and fruit drinks in the Northeast. However, soft drinks have the biggest impact on per capita estimates due to their leading share in the SSB market.
Per capita SSB purchases in the USA amount to an average of 0.38 L per day, where a 12-ounce SSB serving typically provides 35–45 g of added sugars exceeding the daily recommended intake by a single SSB.
Exactly How Much Sugar Does Your Favorite SSB Have ?
Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) or sugary drinks are leading sources of added sugars in the American diet. Frequently drinking sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with weight gain/obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, kidney diseases, non-alcoholic liver disease, tooth decay, and cavities
Even though our lives are sweetened by this addictive ingredient, our society is seeing alarming cases of obesity and health problems that may have to do with our sugar-eating habits. As our annual national healthcare expense escalates at an alarming rate each year, maybe it is time to take a closer look at how consuming sugar can be detrimental to the nation.
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