By JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press
DALLAS -- A spoonful of sugar? Americans are swallowing 22 teaspoons of sugar each day, and it's time to cut way back, the American Heart Association says.
Most of that added sugar comes from soft drinks and candy -- a whopping 355 calories.
By comparison, most women should be getting no more than 100 calories of added sugar -- the sweeteners and syrups that are added to foods during processing, preparation or at the table. For most men, the recommended limit is 150 calories, the heart group says.
The guidelines do not apply to naturally occurring sugars like those found in fruit, vegetables or dairy products.
Rachel K. Johnson, author of the statement published Monday in the American Heart Association journal Circulation, said it was time to give specific advice on how much added sugar Americans should be getting, not just advising moderation.
"Take a good hard look at your diet," said Johnson, professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont in Burlington. "Figure out where the sources of added sugars are and think about how to cut back on that."
The biggest culprits? Soft drinks by far, followed by candy, cakes, cookies and pies.
Cutting back on sugar likely won't be easy for many people, said Lona Sandon, a dietitian at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
"I think it's probably going to be a struggle for quite a few people," Sandon said.
Calculating one's sugar intake can be tricky as the government doesn't require labels to differentiate added sugars from naturally occurring sugars, said Johnson. But she points out that the biggest sources, like soft drinks, are pretty obvious.
The heart group didn't recommend general limits for added sugar for children; a national health survey has shown that boys ages 14 to 18 consume an eye-popping 34 teaspoons of added sugar a day.
Johnson concedes that sugar does play an important role in enhancing the taste of food, adding: "If you feel like, 'I just can't live with this low amount of sugar in my diet,' then what you need to do is up your energy needs."
In other words, she said, get moving. A man in his early 20s who walks more than three miles a day could consume about 288 calories of added sugar.
