My smart 6 year old son was trying to chose his “sugar” for the day. In his desire for the most sugar he came up with the idea of not choosing a cookie or chocolate, instead pouring sugar on a spoon and consuming it directly. I commend his thinking to go straight to the source yet have concerns to the health ramifications of - more sugar!
Here are some added sugar fun facts to sit in your consciousness as you make sugar decisions over the next couple of weeks:)
Added Sugar -
Added Sugars are sugars and syrups that are consumed directly or added from preparation and processing of foods and drinks.
These include candy, cookies, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar (yes, even agave nectar).
Added sugars have been associated with diseases such as heart disease and dental cavities, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, and liver disease (1).
Added sugars are recommended to be avoided in children under 2 (1).
Have you observed children under the age of 2 eating added sugar?
Added sugars have been recommended to be limited to 6 teaspoons in children greater than two (1).
See below for typical teaspoons found in candy
The 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee suggests that added sugars be limited to Less than or equal to 6% of total daily energy intake.
What percentage of sugar is in your daily intake?
In 2017-2018 17 teaspoons of added sugars were the average daily intake of 2-19 year old children and young adults (1).
Yikes!
There are
9 tsp of sugar in 1 can of coke 9 (3)
1.5 tsp in one fun-size snicker bar (2)
2.25 tsp of sugar in 1 treat size box of Nerds (2)
2.25 teaspoons in 1 fun size package of skittles (2)
2.25 teaspoons of sugar in 1 Tootsie Pop (2)
Sugar and Health
It takes a short time to digest added and simple sugars (30-90 minutes) and through your gastrointestinal system your blood will absorb the glucose intake around 15-30 minutes after ingestion. If it is consumed regularly in excess (see above for understanding of excess) it can stay longer into blood vessels than desired causing damage to the blood vessels or even to the liver which processes and filter the glucose from the blood.
Sugar associated diseases:
Diabetes Type 2: 34.2 million Americans have diabetes, that is just over 1 in 10 Americans.
Excess glucose may impair the immune system (6). 1 tsp can disrupt the system up to 5 hours. (7).
Dietary sugars can increase inflammation (8)
High-sugar diet can cause a disruption in the sleep-wake cycle and healthy microflora in Gastrointestinal systems (9)
Food therapy:
Eating small amounts of sugar and from food naturally containing sugar can slow down damage to the body and sometimes even reverse damage. Diet therapy has been proven to reverse Diabetes Type 2 (4).
The goal for this information is to share information and encourage moderation because we are a complex system and there are more ingredients to good health than percentage of added sugar intake.
Therefore, you get to decide how many visits to the dessert table this year. Unless your my 6 year old:)
1. https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/data-statistics/added-sugars.html
3. https://www.livestrong.com/article/283136-how-many-teaspoons-of-sugar-are-there-in-a-can-of-coke/
4. Lim EL, Hollingsworth KG, Aribisala BS, Chen MJ, Mathers JC, Taylor R. Reversal of type 2 diabetes: normalisation of beta cell function in association with decreased pancreas and liver triacylglycerol. Diabetologia. 2011 Oct;54(10):2506-14. doi: 10.1007/s00125-011-2204-7. Epub 2011 Jun 9. PMID: 21656330; PMCID: PMC3168743.
5. https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/library/features/diabetes-stat-report.html
6. Shomali N, Mahmoudi J, Mahmoodpoor A, Zamiri RE, Akbari M, Xu H, Shotorbani SS. Harmful effects of high amounts of glucose on the immune system: An updated review. Biotechnol Appl Biochem. 2021 Apr;68(2):404-410. doi: 10.1002/bab.1938. Epub 2020 Jun 8. PMID: 32395846.
7. Albert Sanchez, J. L. Reeser, H. S. Lau, P. Y. Yahiku, R. E. Willard, P. J. McMillan, S. Y. Cho, A. R. Magie, U. D. Register, Role of sugars in human neutrophilic phagocytosis, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 26, Issue 11, November 1973, Pages 1180–1184, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/26.11.1180
Ma X, Nan F, Liang H, Shu P, Fan X, Song X, Hou Y, Zhang D.
8. Excessive intake of sugar: An accomplice of inflammation. Front Immunol. 2022 Aug 31;13:988481. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.988481. PMID: 36119103; PMCID: PMC9471313.
9. Voigt RM, Forsyth CB, Green SJ, Mutlu E, Engen P, Vitaterna MH, Turek FW, Keshavarzian A. Circadian disorganization alters intestinal microbiota. PLoS One. 2014 May 21;9(5):e97500. doi:1371/journal.pone.0097500. PMID: 24848969; PMCID: PMC4029760.