FDA Recommends Cap on Americans’ Sugar Consumption

Finally.

Obesity medicine experts and public advocacy groups, have been nudging the FDA for years to change their lifestyle and to help kick the sugar habits.  A high-sugar diet is likely to cause harmful metabolic effects separate from weight gain:  it likely promotes chronic inflammation, high blood pressure, and insulin resistance which can lead to outright diabetes and raise the risk of heart attack and stroke.  

 It seems the FDA  is finally starting to comply.  The new goals?  For Americans to limit their daily sugar intake to no more than 10% of their total daily calories.  For adults and children over the age of 3, that means no more than 12.5 teaspoons, or 50 grams daily – roughly equal to a can of Coke.

Giving up a can of coke though, is probably the easy part for most of us.  The much harder part is that sugars lurk nearly everywhere – in low fat yogurts, granolas and cereals, salad dressings, breads, processed foods, and of course in one of Hawaii’s favorite marinades – teriyaki.  

 This means it’s not enough to just quit soda.  Each and every one of us has to become expert label-readers.  We can’t just rely on advertising that touts a product as healthy, without really knowing exactly what is IN the food we eat.

 Read more here:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/placing-a-cap-on-americans-consumption-of-added-sugar/?ref=health&_r=2&utm_content=bufferf7408&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer

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