Sugars and syrups are used by the food and beverage industry to sweeten up your diet -- it's not sheer chance that sugary foods are so pleasing to your tongue. Added sweeteners masquerade under numerous names the label of the food you purchase, cautions the American Heart Association, or AHA. Nutritionally valueless, added sugars are essentially simple carbohydrates that give you a temporary energy boost -- while adding calories to your diet.
Where You Find Them
Added sugars and syrups are used to flavor many types of foods, including the more obvious: regular soft drinks, cakes, cookies, pies, candy and ice cream, says the AHA. But added sugar can also show up in "healthier" foods, such as breakfast cereal, fruit-flavored yogurt, fruit juice, salad dressing and cinnamon bread. High fructose corn syrup, which is derived from a wet milling process, is an added sugar mainly used by the beverage industry, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It's easy to get way too much of this syrup, which is used to sweeten soft drinks and juices.
Sugar by Any Other Name
Plain table sugar is only one type of added sweetener. If your food product has added sugars, you'll find them listed under the label's ingredients under various names. According to the AHA, you'll know your food has added sugars if it specifies any of the following as an ingredient: corn sweetener, corn syrup, brown sugar, malt sugar, molasses, raw sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, fruit juice concentrates, syrup and anything ending with "-ose" -- fructose, glucose, lactose and dextrose.
Added Sugar in Your Diet
American Diabetes reports that most Americans eat a stunning 22 tsp. of sugar every day, for a total of 355 calories. Sugar is extremely dense in calories. The USDA defines the calories you get from sugar as discretionary calories -- "freebies" that you can use on your favorite candy bar, soft drink or rich, sweet dessert only after you get the requisite calories from a nutritionally-balanced diet. Consuming too much added sugar can cause weight gain. Eating too much sugar can also affect your health, increasing the likelihood that you'll get high blood pressure and/or high triglyceride levels. These conditions are linked to heart disease and stroke.
Added Sugar Limitations
If you have a sweet tooth -- and even if you don't -- chances are you're getting too much added sugar in your diet. The AHA states that women shouldn't get more than 100 calories a day from added sugars. Men should get no more than 150. This is the rough equivalent of 6 and 9 tsp., respectively. According to American Diabetes, based on what the average person consumes each day, they'd have to decrease their daily sugar intake by 60 to 70 percent.
Tips to Lower Sugar
The most obvious way to reduce the amount of added sugar you get is to cap the number of soft drinks, fruit juices, desserts and sweet snacks you eat. American Diabetes suggests opting for diet drinks or sweet treats that use sugar substitutes. Alternately, just reach for a piece of whole fruit instead. However, be wary of foods that claim to be low- or reduced-fat; this has no bearing on their added sugar content. Be mindful of how much dressing you pour over your salad, and ease up on the condiments, such as ketchup. One tsp. of ketchup can have as much as 1 tsp. of sugar.
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