Sugar
The May 16 New Yorker has John Seabrook’s latest article “Pepsi’s mission to make their offerings healthier”, which takes some time to enumerate recommendations on daily diet that have been lobbied away by the food industry. Regarding sugar:
Among the recommendations were calls to limit added sugar to ten per cent to the total calorie intake…
Assuming 2000 calories recommended daily allowance per day, that’s 200 calories per day. At 4 calories per gram of sugar, that’s 50 grams of added sugar per day. How much is that? Well, a 12 ounce can of soda has 39g of sugar.
Interestingly enough, that 50 grams is on the high end. “Sugar Shock”, in the latest issue of Experience Life magazine, adds this to sugar intake guidelines:
In 2009, the American Heart Association advised adults to eat no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugars a day for women and 9 teaspoons for men (recommendations are based on average weight for women and men).
White sugar weighs about 4.2 grams per teaspoon, putting the American Heart Association recommendations between 25 and 38 grams per day. So, a 12 ounce can of soda exceeds your daily sugar intake.