Refined Sugars, How Much is Too Much: The American Heart Associations New Recommendations.
Whether dieting, diabetic, or just adopting healthy eating habits, we have to worry about more than calories. We also have to read food labels carefully and consider how various ingredients will affect our bodies, especially sugar.
Sucrose, or what we commonly think of as table sugar, isn’t the only type to watch out for. Refined sugar comes in many guises. In case you’ve ever wondered about the other names for sugar, there’s a list at the end of this post. There’s also a simple tip for estimating sugar content in different products.
The American Heart Association Releases Guidelines For Sugar Intake:
The American Heart Association’s (AHA) Scientific Statement on Dietary Sugar Intake, noted that the average American consumes 22.2 teaspoons of added sugar each day or about 355 calories. This adds up to an extra 2,485 calories a week. At 3500 calories per pound, this means almost 37 lbs. of body fat every year.
According to the AHA‘s statement, “added sugar” refers to sugars added during the processing or preparation of a food product, and does not include naturally occurring sugars such as those in fruit. In other words, this means all extra sugar, even those good ones, like honey that are added to products often touted as “natural” or good for us.
The AHA Panel has for the first time, set recommendations for sugar intake:
Most Men: No more than 150 calories of added sugar. (about 9 1/4 teaspoons)
Most Women: No more than 100 calories of added. (about 6 1/4 teaspoons)
This is a lot less than what many of us are used to. Just one 8 oz. serving of regular coke is already 100 calories. That’s not even 1/2 of the 240 ml. bottles we pick up from the vending machine.
How to Find Added Sugars in Prepared Foods and Convert Grams of Sugar to Teaspoons:
To convert grams to teaspoons, simply divide the number of grams by 4.
For example: If a product says 10 grams of sugar, it has about 2 1/2 teaspoons.
Other Names for Added Sugar:
If it ends in -ose, it’s a form of sugar…
- Dextrose
- Fructose (“fruit sugar” added separately to foods in some cases)
- Galactose
- Glucose (glucose solids)
- Lactose
- Sucrose
- Maltose
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Variations:
- Corn Syrup
- Corn Syrup Solids
- *Hydrolyzed Inulin Syrup
*According to the FDA, this sweetener is a high-fructose syrup derived from inulin, a form of fiber that occurs naturally in many plants including asparagus. Hydrolyzed inulin syrup is composed predominantly of fructose.
These other names for sugar sound healthier and some are. A few, like molasses or honey, have minerals or antioxidants, but they are still forms of added sugars. When added to food in an unnatural way and in copious amounts, their overall effect on the body is no better than plain white sugar.
- Barley malt syrup
- Beet sugar
- Grape sugar
- Fruit Juice Concentrate (fructose)
- Honey
- Maple Syrup
- Molasses
- Rice Syrup
- Tapioca syrup
Variations and other names for plain white sugar:
- Brown Sugar (yes, the only difference is that it’s brown
- Cane-Juice Crystals
- Cane Sugar
- Demerara sugar
- Evaporated Cane Juice
- Florida Crystals
- Free Flowing Brown Sugars
- Granulated Sugar
- Muscovado (or Barbados Sugar)
- Powdered or confectioner’s sugar
- Raw Sugar (like the others on the list, it’s just processed differently)
- Turbinado sugar
Do you have any others to add to this list? Feel free to post them in the comments section…
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This is a very informative post as there should be as much attention paid toward sugar intake as there is towards fat intake. Many products listed as a healthier choice contain these hidden sugars which in turn make the product just as bad.
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Would like to ask about, do people with diabetes can eat sugar cane? Is not only to eat pumpkin?
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Sugar cane, is just unprocessed simple sugars. It affects the body no differently than plain processed white sugar, so diabetics should also take care when consuming that contains “sugar cane.”