According to a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) report, available calories from all forms of added sugars increased 17 percent from 1970 to 2006.
The dramatic rise in obesity is the principle concern about sugar consumption among health professionals, but sugar’s impact on developmental diabetes, dental cavities and other health problems is also an issue. But can sugar itself, even the much-maligned overuse of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), take all the blame?
The rise in sugar consumption in the U.S. in the past three decades includes the use of table sugar, cane and beet sugar, honey, molasses and other syrups, as well as high HFCS and other corn sweeteners like glucose and dextrose. Many point to the introduction of low-cost HFCS in the 1960s (created by converting some of the glucose in corn to much sweeter fructose molecules) as the beginning of the American sugar rush.
While an increase in sugar seems to correspond to the rise in obesity, that’s not the whole story: total calories from all food sources also increased by 520 calories a day from 1970 to 2006. Although the increase in sugar, HFCS and other sweeteners played a role, added calories from fat and grain products actually account for even larger portions of our increased calories.
But if we need to cut back on added sugars, is there a difference between old-fashioned table sugar and HFCS? No. In fact, when the American Medical Association (AMA) issued a statement earlier this year that encouraged limited consumption of all calorie-containing sweeteners, it did not support specific warnings on HFCS.
Much of the debate surrounding HFCS focuses on differences in the metabolic effects of glucose and fructose, two simple sugars that combine to make the product. Both table sugar (sucrose) and HFCS are composed of nearly equal amounts of fructose and glucose. Because sucrose is easily broken down in the digestive track to the two simple sugars, both HFCS and table sugar seem to result in absorption of similar amounts of fructose and glucose.
Current guidelines from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) suggest that added sugars can supply up to 25 percent of our daily calories. But this allows for up to 125 grams of added sugar on a 2,000-calorie diet, equivalent to 500 calories and almost two-thirds cup of sugar.
Many nutrition experts contest this figure and recommend that no more than 10 percent of daily calories come from refined sugars. In fact, USDA dietary patterns show that after we meet our nutritional needs, most people have room for only 150 to 350 total “discretionary calories.”
Even the lower figure cited by the USDA would allow for up to 22 teaspoons of added sugar if all discretionary calories were spent on sugar-sweetened soft drinks (the largest source of added sugars in the U.S. diet) and other sweets. While that may sound like a lot, check the nutrition facts panel on food labels to see how quickly it adds up. You’ll often find one or two teaspoons of added sugar (four to eight grams) in each serving of pasta sauce, white bread, hamburger rolls, ketchup and soup, with larger amounts in cereal, yogurt and desserts.
Contributing editor Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDN, is a dietician with the American Institute for Cancer Research. For more information, visit AICR.org.
KIDS CORNER
A study by researchers in The Netherlands reveals that nearly one in 10 seven- to eight-year-olds hears voices that aren’t actually there.
Researchers with the University Medical Center Groningen say most children who hear voices don’t find them troubling or disruptive to their thinking.
And parents whose children hear voices should not be overly concerned. In most cases, the study’s authors say, the voices will simply disappear.
Up to 16 percent of mentally healthy children and teens may hear voices, the researchers note in the British Journal of Psychiatry. While hearing voices can signal a heightened risk of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in later life, they add that the majority of young people who have these experiences never become mentally ill.
To further investigate how common what’s called “auditory vocal hallucinations" are and whether they are associated with developmental and behavioral factors, the researchers looked at 3,870 Groningen primary school students, who were asked whether they had heard one or more voices that only they could hear in the past year. Nine percent of the children answered yes. Fifteen percent of these children said the voices caused them serious suffering, and 19 percent said the voices interfered with their thinking.
Boys and girls were equally likely to report hearing voices, but girls were more likely to report suffering and anxiety due to the voices. The research team is now conducting a five-year follow-up study of the children.
EATING SMART
A new study suggests that diets high in certain flavonoid compounds found in vegetables, fruits, beans and tea may significantly lower a woman’s risk of developing ovarian cancer.
