Average person in the U.S. consumes on average 111 g, or 22.2 teaspoons, or 355 calories of sugar per day.
American Heart Association recommends upper limits of 30 g, or 6 teaspoons, or 100 calories of added sugar for average sized women and over 45 g, 9 teaspoons, or 150 calories for the average sized man (Johnson, RK).
Foods containing natural sugars, and added sugars, have differential metabolic effects, with added sugars associated with the risk of several noncommunicable diseases.
Associated with risk of colorectal cancer.
A meta-analysis genomewide association studies as established 32 loci associated with a BMI.
In an analysis of genetic predisposition and intake of sugar sweetened beverages in relation to BMI and obesity risk in 6930 for women from the Nurses” Health Study, and 4423 men from the Health Professionals
Followup Study and a cohort of 21,740 women from the Women’s Genome Health Study: Blood genetic association with obesity is more pronounced with greaterbintake of sugar-sweetened beverages (Qibin Qi et al).
Consumption concerns with obesity, dental caries, and cardiovascular disease.
High intake of sugars, particularly those containing fructose, have a range of poor outcomes, such as obesity in children, coronary, heart, disease, and depression and as indicated by a review of 73 metaanalyses, mostly observational.
Overconsumption of sugar is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease as well as diabetes mellitus, liver cirrhosis, and dementia which are all linked metabolic perturbations involving dyslipidemia, hypertension and insulin resistance.
American adults get approximately 13.4% of their calories from added sugars and children and adolescents get about 17%.
In the US 31% of calories in the typical diet is from added sugars that come from snacks and sweets, and 47% come from added sugars in beverages.
The American Heart Association recommends no more than 25 g per day of sugar for women and 38 g per day of sugar for men, amounting to 5% and 7.5%, respectively of a 2000 cal daily diet.
Risk of cardiovascular mortality becomes elevated once added sugar intake surpasses 15% of daily calories (Yang Q et al).
Patient in the above studies show that increase in sugar intake is associated with a fourfold increase risk of cardiovascular death for individuals who consume one third or more of their daily calories in added sugar.
Prevalence of heavy sugar consumption of greater than 25% of daily calories is disproportionately high among Blacks.
Blacks consume 16.9% of their calories in sugar, compared to 9.1% for whites, 11.9% for Mexican-Americans (Yang Q et al).
Low quality evidence links each additional serving of a sugar sweetened beverage per week with a 4% higher risk of gout.
An extra cup per day of a sugar sweetened drink is associated with a 17% and a 4% higher risk of coronary heart disease and all-cause mortality, respectively.
It is recommended to limit consumption of added sugars to less than 10% of calories per day.
It is recommended that the consumption of free sugars or added sugars should be below 25 g per day: translated into about 6 teaspoons daily.
Consuming Sugary Drinks Linked to Increased Cancer Risk
Adults who consume sugary drinks incur an increased risk of cancer.
Assessed 101,257 participants from the French 2009-2017: an analysis of 2,193 cases indicated that sugary drink consumption was significantly linked with the increased overall risk of cancer.
A specific sub analyses suggest the consumption of 100% fruit juices was notably linked with an increased risk of cancer.
However, artificially sweetened beverages were not linked to an increased risk of cancer.
This observational study based on a large prospective cohort suggest that a higher consumption of sugary drinks is associated with the risk of overall cancer and breast cancer.
100% fruit juices were also associated with the risk of overall cancer in this study.
Nutritional recommendations to limit sugary drink consumption, including 100% fruit juice, which might potentially contribute to the reduction of cancer incidence
Americans take in an average of more than 17 teaspoons of sugar, equivalent to about 290 calories, a day from added sugars, often in sweetened beverages.
Sugar is added to countless food products, including breads, condiments, dairy-based foods, nut butters, salad dressings, and sauces.
Sugar is added to impart sweetness, and also used to extend shelf life and adjust attributes like the texture, body, color, and browning capability of food.
Sugar-sweetened beverages contribute about half of the total added sugar in the U.S. food supply.
The source of the sugar in most products is high-fructose corn syrup.
Sugary drinks include:
regular soda
juice drinks, like fruit punch
energy drinks
sports drinks
sweet tea
sweetened coffee drinks
sweetened water
any other beverages with sucrose or high-fructose corn syrup added to enhance sweetness.
Whole juices contain only the sugars in the juice extracted from the fruit or vegetable.
On average, Americans get more than 200 calories a day from sugary drinks, about four times what we consumed in 1965.
In the prospective study of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort, intake of sugar-sweetened beverages was not associated with increased CVD.
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that added sugars were associated with a greater risk for CVD mortality, but the greater increase was particularly evident in those with very high consumption suggesting that unless they reach a large proportion of daily caloric intake, dietary added sugars could be relatively safe, at least from a CVD mortality standpoint.
This relationship is not found with food rich in complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, which were associated with a 9% relative risk reduction of CHD.
This suggests that the quality of carbohydrates matters more than the total amount of carbohydrates.
The American Heart Association, as well as the World Health Organization, currently recommend that dietary free sugars, including added sugars and sugars naturally found in foods such as honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates, do not exceed 10% of total daily calories,
Khan et al in a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies assessing the role of individual as well as cumulative reported dietary intake
divided into total sugars (ie, monosaccharides and disaccharides), added sugars (ie, monosaccharides and disaccharides not naturally present in foods like fruits and fruit juices), and the individual sugars: The consumption of total sugars, sucrose, or fructose, was not associated with a linear dose-response association for the incidence of CVD.
The consumption of total sugars and fructose alone were, however, associated with a 9% relative risk increase and an 8% relative risk increase in CVD mortality, whereas sucrose presented an inverse association with a 6% relative risk reduction for CVD mortality, with a 7% relative risk reduction for each 50-g increase of sucrose consumption.
Added sugars were not significantly associated with CVD mortality.
Te effects of sugars consumption may vary significantly based on the population being investigated.
Although sugars may not be associated with the incidence of CVD, a very high level of consumption may be associated with greater CVD-related mortality.
The threshold for harm with regards to CVD mortality identified for total sugars, fructose, and added sugars are greater than what is recommended by major scientific societies, that is <10%?
Health Professional Follow-up Study found that the highest quartile of sugar sweetened beverage consumption was associated with a 24% RR increase of developing T2DM, a risk factor for the development of CVD and CVD-related mortality.
Sugar intake may be more detrimental to individuals physically inactive, obese, and with those metabolic syndrome, whereas this would be less the case in physically active, lean, and/or metabolically healthy individuals.
The role of dietary sugars on the risk of CVD and CVD has conflicting results.
Brownies, cakes, cookies, doughnuts, ice cream, pastries, pies, puddings, and sweet rolls are just some of the processed foods widely understood to contain substantial amounts of added sugar.
Sugars naturally present in honey and syrups, including maple syrup, are also considered added sugars.
Condiments are spices, or sauces, that you add to food to enhance its flavor.
Tomato ketchup, relish, barbecue sauce, salad dressings, and salsa are condiments, and they can contain considerable amounts of sugar per serving.
Many prepared foods contain additional sweeteners.
Breakfast cereals contain added sugar, but so do ready-to-eat meals, breads, soups, tomato sauces, snacks, and cured meats.
Sugar-sweetened yogurts are processed with added sugar, and can can double or triple the total amount of sugar of Plain unsweetened yogurt.