
In today’s world much of our focus has been placed on decreasing our daily sodium consumption, salt, from our diet. In the 2013 “Guidelines on Lifestyle Management to Reduce Cardiovascular Risk” developed by the American Heart Association (AHA) and the American College of Cardiologists (ACC) recommends our daily sodium intake of 2400 mg/day with further reduction to 1500 mg/day in order to help lower our blood pressure. Recent research now suggest we have been focusing on the wrong “white crystal”, the actual culprit is SUGAR. ( found in processed foods, soda and cookies, and not whole foods, like fruit, are to blame).
There is no consensus on what our daily sugar intake should be. The AHA recommends daily intake of 6 teaspoons for women and 9 teaspoons of for men. While the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends 6-12 teaspoons of sugar a day. Recent studies demonstrate the average American consumes about 77 -112 pounds of sugar a year, 22-47 teaspoons a day (100-200 grams/day), which is 6-16 times higher than the combined daily intake recommended from the AHA and WHO! Did you know, our recommende intake is contained in ONE can of Coca-Cola, 40 grams of sugar (10 teaspoons).
A recent article in Open Heart, a British medical journal, investigates how our overconsumption of dietary sugar is more hazardous to our health then overconsumption of dietary sodium. Here are some highlights:
Questions? Consult with one of our knowledgeable Providers at MHC Medical to assess your daily consumption of sugar today.