Oh, how we love our sugar! Researchers Stephan Guyenet and Jeremy Landen analyzed some old statistics from the US Department of Commerce reports and the USDA. They sorted through the data from the last two centuries and came up with some shocking conclusions. They found that in 1822 the average American ate the amount of sugar found in one of today's 12-ounce sodas every 5 days. We now consume that much sugar every 7 hours!
They represented their findings in a graph that illustrates how much sugar we consume per year. In 1822 the average American consumed 6.3 pounds of sugar per year. Their graph shows consumption increasing steadily to an average of 107.7 pounds per year in 1999. The statistics represent added sweeteners such as cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and maple syrup, but not naturally occurring sugars in fruits and vegetables.
Obviously, our eating habits have changed dramatically in the last 200 years. They surmise that many of the changes stem from a single factor: the industrialization and commercialization of the American food system. They state that we have outsourced most of our food preparation and placed it into the hands of professionals whose interests aren't always aligned with what is best for our health.
Obvious sources of sugar are soda, candy, and baked goods, but sugar is also added to most processed foods. Look at the labels of ketchup, crackers, bread, soups, cereals, peanut butter, cured meats, and salad dressings and you will find added sugar. If a food contains high-fructose corn syrup or dextrose, it is just another name for sugar.
We all know that excess sugar in our diets can lead to weight gain. But what if we are at a healthy weight? Is consuming large quantities of sugar then okay? A study published online in JAMA Internal Medicine says a sugar-laden diet may raise your risk of dying of heart disease even if you are not overweight.
For most of us at least 10% of our daily calories come from added sugars. But for about one in 10 people, 25% or more of their daily calories come in the form of added sugar. The study followed participants for 15 years and during that time people who consumed 25% or more of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those whose diets included less than 10% added sugar. The data showed that the odds of dying from heart disease were proportional to the percentage of sugar in the diet. This was true regardless of an individual's age, gender, physical activity level, and body-mass index.
Sugar contains what nutritionists refer to as "empty calories", or calories that are without fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Consuming a large percentage of daily calories from added sugars can crowd healthier foods from a person's diet. So researchers even considered the possibility that it is not the increase in added sugars that causes heart disease, but rather the lack of heart-healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables. Researchers measured the participants' Healthy Eating Index and still found that people who ate more sugar had higher cardiovascular mortality. The saying that "you can't out-exercise a bad diet" seems to be true when it comes to excess sugar consumption.
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