Heart Association recommends limits on added sugars
The American Heart Association sounded an alarm today over sugar-rich diets amid a global epidemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease, singling out soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages.
Based on observational studies linking soft-drink consumption to higher weight gain and lower nutrition, the group advises women to limit sugar to no more than 100 calories a day and men to no more than 150 calories a day from added sugars.
Added sugars mean sugars added during processing or preparation, including syrups added at the table. The usual intake of added sugars averaged about 22 teaspoons, or 355 calories, a day, according to a federal survey conducted from 2001 through 2004. For children ages 14 to 18, it was even higher: about 34 teaspoons or 549 calories a day.
Obesity specialist Dr. David Ludwig of Children's Hospital Boston called the recommendations appropriate and long overdue.
"It's a call for nutritional sanity and a return to dietary patterns that existed before the obesity epidemic, when everything we ate didn't need to be sugar sweetened," he said in an interview.
Dr. Walter Willett of the Harvard School of Public Health also endorsed the recommendations.
"This is an important step forward," he said in an e-mail interview. "In translating this reduction of sugar into practice, the most important step someone can take is to eliminate soda and other sugary beverages from their diet."
For more on soft drinks and obesity, see this Globe story from Aug. 3.
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No kidding....how many millions got spent on this "Eureka" moment???
In answer to your question, John, a lot less than is spent on advertising the offending, and to the drinks manufacturers, highly lucrative products. Did you think of that?
We needed to spend money on a study to know that information???? Some things amaze me. How about instead of government providing healthcare, we get the government to create some tough guidelines about some basic nutritional quantities. Insane.
Yes, it seems evident to all of us who can see that we are a huge population and getting larger by the moment. However, if you are to take on industries who depend on ever increasing consumption of sugars for their continued growth, you need evidence (which means studies) or you will get nowhere.
As a registered dietitian and a consultant for the food and beverage industry I would like to comment on this article. Let's remember a healthy diet is about moderation, not elimination. People need to make informed, sensible choices based on their individual needs. According a National Cancer Institute analysis from April 2009, Americans get added sugar from a lot of places. Soda, sports drinks, sweetened waters and energy drinks contributes just 5.5% of the calories in the average American diet. That means that nearly 95% of our calories come from other foods. No one food or beverage is responsible for obesity. Virtually all experts agree that people should consume a variety of foods and beverages, budget their calories to balance intake and physical activity to maintain a healthy weight. With this approach, any food or beverage can be a part of a balanced and sensible diet when consumed in moderation. Simply reducing sugars in the diet, as this policy statement suggests, could be counterproductive and confusing to consumers. Let's keep our eye on the key issues which are: calorie budgeting, physical activity and moderation. A diet this restrictive is likely to be unsuccesful for most Americans.
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