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DEL.ICIO.USHow much sugar is too much?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Every evening, after dinner, my children have just one question: Dessert?
Usually, the answer is no. It doesn’t seem to matter how often we tell them that dessert is a special treat and not an everyday happening.
They keep hoping. And after a week of vacation that included making homemade peach and chocolate ice cream, who can blame them?
We’ve set the ice cream aside for now and gone back to the usual routine of eating dessert every once in a while, and offering second helpings of vegetables or bread if they’re still hungry.
But they’re still getting plenty of sugar from other places, like the bug juice served with their camp lunches this week, the popsicles handed out on Fridays, and, at other camps, the cookies and other sweets distributed as snacks.
And it’s not just children who are loading up on the sweet stuff — and not just desserts that are loaded with sugar. A new study from Emory University finds that Americans are getting more than 10 percent of their daily calories from fructose, used in sweetened beverages and processed foods. Besides the most common sources of added sugars — soft drinks, candy, pastries and fruit drinks — it’s in a range of unexpected foods, from spaghetti sauces to whole wheat bread.
If you’re reading labels, you’ll see it listed as sucrose — another name for table sugar — and high-fructose corn syrup. Fructose consumption is up almost 50 percent, according to the study, which measured what American children and adults ate from 1988-1994, compared to the late ‘70s.
Study author Miriam Vos, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, says there is growing evidence that eating too much fructose can affect health. The most recent government nutritional advice recommends significantly reducing the amount of foods and beverages with added sugars we consume. That’s because they can squeeze out more nutritious food from our diet, while piling on calories.
Do you look at labels for added sugars? How are you trying to reduce sugar in your family’s diet?
Permalink | Comments (8) | Post your comment | Categories: Healthy eating
Comments
By ATLmom
July 10, 2008 1:48 PM | Link to this
I read labels and it’s amazing the foods that have fructose! I try to prepare meals and snacks that have whole wheat, fresh fruits and veggies, high fiber, plenty of vitamins, low sugar, taste good and get the thumbs up from a 2-year-old. It’s the impossible dream. Just last night I was trying to get him to eat his green beans and said, “Mmmmm, Green Beans.” His reply: “Mmmmm, cake.”
By JJ
July 10, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this
I’m with ATLMom, it’s amazing what all has sugar in it.
However, in my house, there are NO sodas, NO juice boxes, No Sports drinks, etc. Water is available and that’s pretty much what we drink at home. Either from the tap, or Publix or Kroger, whatever’s on sale.
But I do have ice cream. I have a sweet tooth that needs to be satified once a day. I’ll either have a couple “snack sized” Snickers after lunch, or wait on the occasional ice cream after dinner.
By Ali
July 10, 2008 4:44 PM | Link to this
I agree, there is much too much sugar in everything. This is why we hardly have any sugary snacks in my house, and from day one (my kids are 3 and 5) dessert is always fruit. If there is a special occasion like a birthday, there may be a day or two of cake, but that’s it. They get enough sugar from other sources so I don’t have it in my house. I also don’t have anything with trans fat, but that’s another discussion.
By Stan
July 10, 2008 5:24 PM | Link to this
I like to get my sugar form expected places (like sweet tea) I no longer drink soda at home (and I seldom eat out) Juice is rare at home except for the higher end juice that does not use apple juice as a base. I mix my own yogurt, plain natural yogurt + bag of frozen fruit + a little sugar that I add to the fruit. I’ve cut waaaaay down on the processed food that me and my wife eat. It is not filling, healty, tasty… I’d rather do a little more work and eat better than to keep eating god knows what in my body! (note: I am horribly out of shape and far from being a health nut)
Stan
By Kat
July 11, 2008 9:26 AM | Link to this
We only eat whole grain breads, and I’ve found, to my shock, that it is nearly impossible to find a commercial whole wheat bread that doesn’t list a whopping dose of molasses or brown sugar in the ingredients. One of my daughters has a very sensitive palate and can’t stand a sweet taste to her bread, but I refuse to cave in and buy white bread. I’ve explained to my family that a slice of white bread (or anything made with white flour) is the nutritional equivalent of eating a spoonful of sugar. My solution was to get a bread machine and make my own whole wheat bread, without added sugar. Suddenly my child who thought she hated wheat bread can’t get enough of it. I work full-time but a bread machine literally only takes a few minutes to use. You just dump in the ingredients and walk away and let it do its thing.
By fer
July 11, 2008 10:44 AM | Link to this
Homemade bread, yes, indeed! A bread machine is worth every penny you have to pay for it.
As far as I’m concerned, I think products containing high fructose corn syrup (and trans fats) should have poison symbols on the label.
By Scotty
July 11, 2008 11:06 AM | Link to this
Lets hear the list of “affects” . I know that it can make you fatter due to the method in which the human body processes HFCS and cane sugar. What are the other untowards effects on the human body?????
By Daphne
July 11, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
Many low fat products are loaded with sugar. I always read labels, but especially so when my husband got cancer. Cancer feeds on sugar, so we cut out all of it. He’s been healthy for more than 6 years and we still eat very little sugar. It is hard trying to find the spaggheti sauce and mayo without sugar, though…