How much sugar is ok?
Dietitians (dy-et-ish-ans) know that a little sugar each day as part of a healthy diet is ok. But sugar should be less than 10% of the total energy intake each day.
That means that if you are 12 years old and drink a 600ml bottle of soft drink you will have had much more than your sugar allowance for the day as it contains between 12-15 teaspoons of sugar!
Fruit, vegetables and dairy foods contain their own natural carbohydrates (such as fructose or lactose) plus lots of other good stuff as well. Eat a balanced diet and your body will be happy and work better.
Let's start with the good news. Kids are consuming less added sugar than they were in 2000. The bad news is that kids are still getting more sugar — 16 percent of total calories — than the 5 to 15 percent recommended by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
Just what is added sugar? Sugar used as an ingredient in processed foods, such as breads, cakes, soft drinks, jams and ice cream, and sugar eaten separately or added to foods at the table. Examples include white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, high fructose corn syrup, malt syrup, maple syrup, pancake syrup, fructose sweetener, liquid fructose, honey, molasses, anhydrous dextrose, crystal dextrose and dextrin.
The ugly truth is that added sugar means empty calories (no nutrients beyond calories) that put kids at risk of obesity and health problems that can show up as early as adolescence.
To put these percentages into practical terms, here are the averages for boys and girls:
DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH SUGAR YOU KIDS ARE CONSUMING? DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE RECOMMENDED AMOUNT OF SUGAR IS?
WATCH THIS VIDEO COURTESY OF NEAL ANDREWS, MONTANA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM WELLNESS FOR AN ALL TO COMMON OCCURANCE.
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