Says Limit Consumption To 50gDay
For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration has recommended a cap on sugar consumption for Americans.
The goal is to limit added sugar to no more than 10% of daily calories, according to the proposed guidelines. For someone older than 3, it means eating no more than 12.5 teaspoons, or 50 grams, of it a day .That's about the same amount of sugar found in a can of Coke.
But for most people, giving up sugary drinks will not be enough to meet the recommendations. Caloric sweeteners are also lurking in foods with health appeal, like lowfat yogurt, canned fruit and wholegrain breads. “There is a lot of hidden sugar in our food supply ,“ said Dr. Frank Hu.
Currently , nutrition labels on food packaging reveal only the total amount of sugar in a product. The FDA has said it wants to change the labels to help consumers distinguish between the amount of naturally occurring sugar and the amount of added sugar. “Fruit yogurts could contain a tiny amount of real fruit in there and an awful lot of added sugar, or lots of fruit and dairy and little added sugar, and the consumer cannot distinguish between the two,“ said Susan Mayne, the director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the FDA.
Critics have balked at the sugar cap and the new label requirements, saying the new labels will only confuse shoppers. “Metabolically speaking, our bodies don't differentiate between added and natural sugars,“ said Kris Sollid, a dietitian and director of nutrients communications for the International Food Information Council. If people are watching their weight, he said, “it's more important to look at total calories.“
The 10% cap by FDA was derived from modeling different kinds of healthy diet patterns -American, Mediterranean and vegetarian -and determining how many discretionary calories are left over for sugar after an individual gets the nutrients he or she needs.
Sugar makes up about 13.5% of Americans' caloric intake, so public health experts think the goal of 10 percent is attainable. But that's an average figure: Younger people, blacks and the poor tend to consume higher amounts of sugar and would need to make deeper cuts to reach the goal.
For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration has recommended a cap on sugar consumption for Americans.
The goal is to limit added sugar to no more than 10% of daily calories, according to the proposed guidelines. For someone older than 3, it means eating no more than 12.5 teaspoons, or 50 grams, of it a day .That's about the same amount of sugar found in a can of Coke.
But for most people, giving up sugary drinks will not be enough to meet the recommendations. Caloric sweeteners are also lurking in foods with health appeal, like lowfat yogurt, canned fruit and wholegrain breads. “There is a lot of hidden sugar in our food supply ,“ said Dr. Frank Hu.
Currently , nutrition labels on food packaging reveal only the total amount of sugar in a product. The FDA has said it wants to change the labels to help consumers distinguish between the amount of naturally occurring sugar and the amount of added sugar. “Fruit yogurts could contain a tiny amount of real fruit in there and an awful lot of added sugar, or lots of fruit and dairy and little added sugar, and the consumer cannot distinguish between the two,“ said Susan Mayne, the director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the FDA.
Critics have balked at the sugar cap and the new label requirements, saying the new labels will only confuse shoppers. “Metabolically speaking, our bodies don't differentiate between added and natural sugars,“ said Kris Sollid, a dietitian and director of nutrients communications for the International Food Information Council. If people are watching their weight, he said, “it's more important to look at total calories.“
The 10% cap by FDA was derived from modeling different kinds of healthy diet patterns -American, Mediterranean and vegetarian -and determining how many discretionary calories are left over for sugar after an individual gets the nutrients he or she needs.
Sugar makes up about 13.5% of Americans' caloric intake, so public health experts think the goal of 10 percent is attainable. But that's an average figure: Younger people, blacks and the poor tend to consume higher amounts of sugar and would need to make deeper cuts to reach the goal.
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