How Much Sugar Allowance A Day?

Since the early 1800’s, the average American’s overall amount of sugar consumption has increased more than 1,500 percent, according to “Sugar Shock!” Most Americans consume more than 21 teaspoons of sugar every day, which far exceeds USDA guidelines and American Heart Association recommendations -- and is almost twice the amount consumed by the average American in 1980, notes April Fulton in an NPR article (April 20, 2010). The excessive intake of sugar in the United States is the result of consuming a diet based largely on processed foods, many of which contain added sugars.

Discretionary Calories

Sugar is a simple carbohydrate that provides your body with quick energy. Because it has no additional nutritional value, most health experts recommend that you limit your intake of added sugar to no more than half of your daily allowance of discretionary calories, which are the calories that remain in your calorie “budget” after you meet your nutritional requirements. Most women can allot up to 200 calories per day to discretionary calories, while most men have a 300-calorie budget. This means that for women, no more than 100 daily calories should come from added sugar, and men shouldn’t consume more than 150 daily calories from added sugar.

Recommendations

With the exception of honey, almost all sugars contain 4 calories per gram, or 16 calories per teaspoon, according to Colorado State University. Maple syrup has 17 calories per teaspoon, and the same amount of corn syrup has 19 calories. Honey is denser and sweeter than other sugars, providing 22 calories per teaspoon. To stay within the recommended amount, women should limit their consumptions of added sugars to 6 tsp. each day, while men shouldn't consume more than 9 tsp. of added sugar. Women who regularly consume honey reach their daily recommended sugar intake with just 4.5 tsp. of honey, while men meet their recommended intakes by consuming 6.5 tsp. of honey in a day.

Types of Sugar

Monosaccharides, or simple sugars, include glucose, fructose and galactose. Disaccharides are comprised of two chemically-attached units of simple sugars and include maltose, lactose and sucrose. Fructose occurs naturally in fruit and honey, and lactose occurs naturally in milk. Sucrose is one of many names for refined table sugar derived from sugar cane or sugar beets, but sucrose also occurs naturally in many fruits and some vegetables and grains. On food labels, any word ending in “-ose,” means sugar, such as dextrose or levulose. Syrups, nectars and juices also signify sugar, as in brown rice syrup, agave nectar and fruit juice concentrate. Other common names for added sugar include evaporated cane juice, molasses, maple sugar, honey, turbinado sugar, dextrin, xylitol and high fructose corn syrup — sometimes labeled as HFCS.

Deciphering Labels

A food product is considered high in sugar if any form of sugar is listed as one of the first three ingredients on the label, or if the label lists more than three types of sugar. If a product lists a sugar content of 10 g per serving, one serving contains 40 sugar calories, since most types of sugar provide 4 calories per gram. According to the American Heart Association, sweetened beverages — especially soft drinks — are the primary sources of added sugar in the American diet. Naturally occurring sugars, such as the fructose in fruit or the lactose in milk, are not subject to the daily recommendations put forth by health experts, because these types of sugar are not added to the nutritious foods in which they’re found.