The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends following a healthy eating pattern that limits added sugars and to consume no more than 10 percent of calories from added sugar. Similarly, the American Heart Association recommends no more than 100 calories per day, or about 6 teaspoons of sugar for woman and 150 calories per day, or about 9 teaspoons daily for men. However, unfortunately the United States Department of Agriculture estimates that American’s are eating around 30 teaspoons of added sugar daily, well over these recommendations. Yikes!
So, we’ve established that we are definitely eating way too much sugar, but why is it bad for us? Sugar can be both naturally occurring in foods such as fruit (fructose) and milk (lactose) or added to foods during processing which is generally referred to as added sugar. Added sugar has been linked to a variety of illnesses and chronic diseases such as obesity, poor gut health, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and behavioral issues. On top of that, sugar provides lots of calories and lacks in healthy vitamins and minerals.
