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The Hidden Sugars in our Modern Diets

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Most consumers agree that sugars are one of the main culprits which add up to obesity and poor health in our westernized diets. However, few of us realize just where these sugars come from. Refined sugars have no nutritional merit and for those trying to lose weight they should be the first thing to be cut from a calorie-controlled diet.

Sugary drinks, doughnuts, chocolate, sweet treats, ice cream and brownies are all seen as no-no’s for those watching their weight. However, it is both surprising and enlightening to see where our daily sugar intake comes from. It is not always the obvious sources which have the highest sugar content. Often “healthy” and “savory” foods have the most hidden refined sugars and high-fructose corn syrup content. Prepare to be amazed at the following revelations.

Most of us would consider a Starbucks Caffé Latte (without flavored syrup, of course) as a healthy and low-sugar content choice, but a grande cup actually has 17g of sugar. As one level teaspoon of sugar is 4g and contains 15 calories, that wholesome unsweetened drink packs a mighty 64 calories just in sugar content out of a total 190 calories. Make it a grande caffé vanilla frapuccino and that has a whopping 58g of sugar. Even a 20oz bottle of Vitamin Water has 33g of sugar. The bad news is that all those calories were just flavoring in a drink, not a main meal.

Abandoning Starbucks and heading for the health food section of the local grocery store is not the answer either. A 450g bottle of Odwalla SuperFood contains 50g of sugar (12 level teaspoons) and Tropicana 100% orange juice is not a lot better with a modest 8oz glass containing 25g of sugar. Even more surprising, a serving of Yoplait original yoghurt has 27g of sugar.

By comparison, a Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut has 10g of sugar, ¾ cup of fruit loops breakfast cereal has 12g and a scoop of Ben and Jerry’s vanilla ice cream has a modest 16g of sugar.

Of course, sugar count is not the whole picture by any means, but it goes to show that you cannot guess what foods may be healthy and low calorie and what may be high in hidden sugars. There are also a host of differences between “bad” refined sugar and naturally recurring sugars in fruits and other foods. The only way to ascertain what your body is consuming is by reading the labels and choosing wisely. As a guideline, Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition at NYU, suggests that any foods which have more than 15g of sugar per serving should be treated as dessert.

So that rules out sprinkling 1/3 cup of dried cranberries on your salad (29g), snacking on Oscar Mayer Lunchables of crackers, turkey and cheese (36g) and even a can of Coca Cola classic (39g). Best consider canned sodas as candy in a liquid form unless it is a diet product, and stick to frozen food entrees which clearly mark their nutritional content on the label, rather than hoping for the best with a restaurant-made salad. Perhaps that way the 170 pounds of sugar consumed on average by Americans each year can be considerably reduced, along with its counterparts – heart disease, obesity, depression, fatigue, severe PMS and headaches.