Darya Pino, a health blogger, posted on The Huffington Post on April 8th, 2010 talking about the amount of sugar in common food products. Sugar comes in many different shapes; sugar cane, high fructose sugar, white sugar, artificial sweeteners, honey, fruits and so on. We as American tend to want our foods sweeter and sweeter. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of 2001 to 2004 found that the average American is enjoying 22.2 teaspoons of sugar per day, while children ages 14-18 have the highest intake of sugar per day at 34.3 teaspoons per day. One thing that I learned while I was in Naturopathic Medical School was that a single teaspoon of sugar can knock your immune system out for 4 hours. This makes me worried that every single American is going around day to day without a fully function immune system. Ms. Pino's blog goes on to list 19 common foods and the amount of sugar in them; I have listed them below for you and she tried to list as close to normal serving sizes as possible.
1. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut .........................................................10 g
2. Luna Bar berry almond ....................................................................................11 g
3. Froot Loops breakfast cereal 3/4 cup ............................................................12 g
4. Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream .....................................................................16 g
5. Starbucks caffè latte grande 16 oz ..................................................................17 g
6. Godiva 2 truffles ..............................................................................................17 g
7. Subway 6″ sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich ......................................17 g
8. Ms. Field's chocolate chip cookie ...................................................................19 g
9. Tropicana 100% orange juice 8 oz ..................................................................25 g
10. Yoplait original yogurt .................................................................................27 g
11. Craisins dried cranberries 1/3 cup ................................................................29 g
12. Vitamin Water 20 oz bottle ............................................................................33 g
13. Oscar Mayer Lunchables crackers, turkey & American cheese ...................36 g
14. Coca-Cola Classic 12 oz can .............................................................................39 g
15. Sprinkles Cupcake red velvet ..........................................................................45 g
16. California Pizza Kitchen Thai chicken salad ...................................................45 g
17. Jamba Juice blackberry bliss 16 oz ................................................................49 g
18. Odwalla SuperFood 450 ml bottle ..................................................................50 g
19. Starbucks caffe vanilla frappuccino grande 16 oz .........................................58 g
Take a good look at the list, this list only includes 19 foods, but consider what you eat on an everyday bases. Sugar has many negative side effects; I thought I would list 19 of them since we just looked at 19 foods with high levels. Negative effects include, but are not limited to:
1. Reduces tissue elasticity and contributes to saggy skin
2. Contributes to breast cancer, rectal cancer, gastric cancer and ovarian cancer
3. Causes premature aging
4. Exacerbates adrenal dysfunction
5. Impairs the structure of DNA
6. Increases blood pressure
7. Increases allergies
8. Increases eczema
9. Contributes to cataracts
10. Increases fluid retention and bloating
11. Causes constipation
12. Causes migraines
13. Contributes to depression symptoms
14. Contributes to Alzheimer's Disease
15. Feeds cancer cells
16. Increases the risk of Low Birth Weight Infants
17. Increases Estrogen in Men
18. Makes PMS worse
19. Increases antisocial behavior in children
As the consumers of these sugary foods it is our job to educate ourselves on better alternatives. Not all foods are created equal. From Ms. Pino's list we see that some of the "healthier" marketed foods have some of the highest amounts of sugar. Consider switching your diet from the processed/packaged food diet to one of a more whole foods rich diet; rich in naturally sweeten fruits and veggies. It can and will take the body a while to realize that foods we no longer consider sweet, such as fruits, are sweet again.
For further information - Please read Darya Pino Article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darya-pino/shocking-sugar-content-of_b_514879.html
For further information on The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey please see the Circulation at http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.192627