natural sugar, table sugar or artificial sweeteners?

The average American consumes almost 20 teaspoons of sugar per day. Let’s break that down: It’s about equal to a serving of jelly beans plus nine Hershey’s Kisses plus a couple of Double Stuf Oreos, plus a couple of brownies. While this example may seem extreme outside of a rare holiday, a review of packaged foods found that sugar has crept into our food supply in astonishing numbers. Up to 75 percent of packaged foods, including breakfast cereals, granola bars, flavored yogurts (even the fruit-flavored varieties), soups, breads and condiments, contain added sugars, causing us to take in excessive amounts — whether you’re having dessert or not.

It probably doesn’t take a nutrition or medical genius to recognize that this amount of sugar isn’t doing us any favors, but it’s important to point out just how damaging it can be. Over time, added sugars can mess up your metabolism, play a role in weight problems, raise the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and tooth decay, exacerbate acne and more. In order to dial back the damage, you need to learn a few sugar facts first.

NATURAL SUGARS

Natural sugars are found in foods like yogurt, milk and fruits, and they don’t lead to the same health problems that added sugars do. Think of it this way: Whole foods contain a natural package of health promoting substances, like calcium, magnesium, potassium and fiber (from fruits). Because of the goodness these sugars come along with, you can ease up on worrying about them.

There is one exception. It’s hard to argue with the benefits of fruit, but you can overdo juice. Juice lacks the fiber contained in fruit, and because a cup of juice contains more than one piece of fruit, you get more fructose — the natural sugar. If you’re drinking more than one cup of juice per day (or serving more to your children), you’ll want to re-think your drinks.

HOW MUCH IS OKAY?

Certainly, a little sugar can be fine, especially if it’s used to add flavor to nutritious foods. A drizzle of maple syrup over roasted carrots or a spoonful of honey over a fruit-and-nut-filled overnight oatmeal can bring more flavor to foods that supply vitamins, minerals and other natural health-boosters. But know the difference between a drizzle and a pour. The American Heart Association advises capping added sugars at 6 teaspoons (25 grams) per day for women and 9 teaspoons (36 g) per day for men. This can add up quickly!

SUGAR SPOTTING

To eliminate added sugars, you first need to find them, which is no easy feat. For one thing, sugar goes by many different names. Common ones include agave, brown sugar, cane juice, cane sugar, coconut palm sugar, evaporated cane juice, fruit juice concentrate (such as apple or pear juice concentrate), honey, brown rice syrup, maple syrup and high fructose corn syrup.

In addition to the many code words for added sugar, the current food label isn’t totally transparent. Though it lists total sugars on the label, it makes no distinction between the naturally occurring ones and those that are added. And then there’s sugar math. The Nutrition Facts Panel lists sugars in grams, but most of us are used to measuring in teaspoons. (For the record, a teaspoon of sugar is roughly 4 grams.)

Until the updated label makes its way to shelves (reportedly in early 2020), you’ll have to make do with the current one. To make the best of it, compare similar products (say, one bread to another), looking at the Nutrition Facts label to find foods with the lowest levels. You may also want to do your own calculations. Just recognizing that 9 grams of sugar is more than 2 teaspoons’ worth might help point you toward a different product.

Finally, make no mistake: Even healthy-sounding sugars can contribute to health problems. Though some, like maple syrup and molasses, contain miniscule amounts of antioxidants or minerals, you shouldn’t be eating enough of them to get health perks.