
The average American eats 17 teaspoons of added sugar daily - pseudolus
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/07/the-average-american-eats-17-teaspoons-of-added-sugar-daily-its-killing-us
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jimmar
"Nutrition scientists link a diet high in added sugar – like those
multisyllabic sweeteners in soda – to diabetes, heart disease and possibly
even some cancers. (Naturally occurring sugar, like the kind that occurs in
fruits or milk, doesn’t pose the same concerns.)"

Can somebody help me understand how sugar in orange juice is somehow magically
healthier than sugar in soda? As far as I know, it's all just glucose and
fructose.

~~~
dmix
Fructose from fruit is pretty much the same as glucose sugar as far as your
body is concerned. That sentence is incorrect.

High-fructose corn syrup has also been shown to be far worse for you than
simple fructose and glucose.

~~~
0x8BADF00D
There is a case to be made to ingest pure dextrose for glycogen replenishment,
after a heavy weightlifting session.

HFCS contains slightly more fructose than glucose. It doesn’t follow that this
would be any worse or better for you than if you were to ingest pure dextrose,
fructose, or glucose. If you are ingesting these in high quantities you are
damaging your liver and pancreas way worse than even drinking alcohol.

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fouc
I suspect the bigger effect is that Americans are typically eating at least 3
meals a day plus snacks. The body doesn't get any breaks from food at all, no
time to recover from heightened insulin levels.

This is why intermittent fasting or extended fasting (water + salt) is so
helpful in resetting the hormones and getting it back to normal.

~~~
dorkwood
This is why I feel like the “sugar is killing us” stuff doesn’t apply to me. I
eat two meals a day and drink a can of soda with each one, but I fast for 16
hours inbetween with no snacks. I don’t see any negative side effects from my
sugar intake. Am I still going to get diabetes?

~~~
rgbrenner
2 cans of coke is 72g sugar or about 18 teaspoons + the added sugar in your
food -- it's everywhere: soups, cereals (even bran flakes), bread, yogurt,
spaghetti sauce, ...

Your body is awesome at surviving on whatever you give it. You can eat like
crap, and you'll feel totally normal once you get used to it. That's why sugar
is everywhere and yet people don't notice it. They consume it regularly and
their body adjusts so they feel normal, even healthy. Yet, increase the sugar
(or decrease the sugar, and then resume normal consumption) and you'll feel
nauseous and sick.. for me personally, it feels like I'm getting the flu. (But
if I do this several times, it'll go away and I'll feel the same as before but
with a higher sugar intake.)

You're probably consuming a lot of sugar. I try to avoid it, and I can tell
you soda tastes like a disgusting syrup. If you're able to drink that, you've
adjusted to a high sugar diet. It's unbearably sweet.

But just because you've adjusted to it, doesn't mean it's not having an effect
on your body. You might feel healthy right up until you get diagnosed with
diabetes.

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bitpow
> Come the 1980s, Americans were buying low-fat everything – the war against
> carbs had been won.

This doesn't make sense as fat is typically low in carbs. I think they mean
the war _for_ carbs had been won.

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newnewpdro
You're right, but I think they just meant to say 'the war against fat had been
won'.

TFA is rife with errors, it's annoying because excess sugar consumption is a
real issue but poorly researched and written articles like these are not
helping.

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kcmastrpc
You would be surprised at how difficult it is to find food that hasn't been
inundated with processed sugar and cheap ass carbs, especially if you travel
often (I do).

I've been actively cutting carbs/sugars from my diet since July, and along
with exercise, I've dropped 20 kg. This was after a 8 month plateau where no
matter what I did in the gym I couldn't drop those two stones. Oh, I also feel
better, don't get hungry as often, can easily pull off 18/6 or 24 hr fasts,
and maintaining a calorie deficit has actually been easy.

~~~
grecy
> _You would be surprised at how difficult it is to find food that hasn 't
> been inundated with processed sugar and cheap ass carbs, especially if you
> travel often (I do)._

There is a really simple way to deal with this, and always eat well. In the
supermarket, try as hard as you can to only buy things that have one
ingredient.

Fruits, vegetables, meat, beans, rice, etc.

If it has more than one ingredient, be skeptical, and try to consume as little
of it as possible. That goes for liquid too. Water is the only liquid you
should drink.

(Yes, yes, for all the snarky comments coming - obviously you could buy "raw
sugar" or "lard" and defeat my idea. Please - use your brain, it's not a big
ask)

~~~
kcmastrpc
Ok, just to be clear, I'm talking about prepared food. Obviously raw food
isn't going to have processed sugar, but if we're talking about obvious stuff
here, grocery shopping and cooking while one travels for business isn't really
practical.

~~~
grecy
I've been on the road for 5 months this summer in the US, and before that 3
years in Africa. You can do it if you want, it's your choice.

Lettuce, Tomato, bell peppers, cucumber and some hummus make a pretty good
lunch (obviously the hummus has more than one ingredient).

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travisgriggs
Tongue in cheek flippant...

...maybe we should just tax sugar. It's been our general response to any
"vice" whose costs outweigh the benefits.

~~~
Scoundreller
Or tax calories at 1cent each.

And everyone gets a $20 grant per day.

~~~
jniedrauer
That unfairly impacts athletic people.

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droithomme
OK as his source he links to:

[https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-big-number-
america...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/the-big-number-americans-
consume-17-teaspoons-of-added-sugar-daily-thats-way-too-
much/2019/11/01/318c9f6e-fbed-11e9-8190-6be4deb56e01_story.html)

Which states:

> Added sugars — defined as sweeteners added to foods or beverages when they
> are being produced or when being prepped to be eaten or drunk at home —
> include white or brown sugar, honey, molasses, high-fructose corn syrup,
> dextrose, lactose, sucrose and more.

So this includes lactose from mother's milk and honey.

I'd personally rather see a breakdown by type. Are lactose, molasses and honey
major contributors here that are a big problem and demonstrated to lead to
obesity and diabetes? Should infants be removed from both breast milk and
lactose intense formula since they are bad?

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mncharity
> It’s killing us

Perhaps there's a silver lining in that? US regulatory, trade, and industrial
policy, has as an objective, spreading this diet around the world. And yes,
it's a major public health issue in many countries. And yet, even here on HN,
people have for example, praised TPP, with its ISDS provisions permitting
companies to recover from governments, profits lost to health regulation. So
as a silver lining, surely it would be even more unethical to inflict all this
harm on others, if we were not subjecting ourselves to it as well? Eating our
own sugary dog food.

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elijahparker
For a better visualization, 17 teaspoons is just over 1/3 cup, or 0.35 cups.

~~~
programmertote
To add to above comment, WHO recommendation is "no more than 6 teaspoons (25
grams) of added sugar per day for women and 9 teaspoons (38 grams) for men"
[1]

[1] [https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/the-growing-concern-of-
overcon...](https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/the-growing-concern-of-
overconsumption.html)

~~~
ant6n
So a man may drink one can of soda, but that's the whole sugar budget.

~~~
vinni2
Consuming a lot of sugar in short amount of time is also bad.

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lugg
For reference. Adult males recommended daily intake is: 9 teaspoons. Females:
6 teaspoons.

That's from American heart foundation so take it with a grain of salt.

~~~
Udik
A teaspoon seems to be equivalent to 4 grams of sugar. Therefore the
recommended daily intake for males would be 36 grams. An apple contains 20
grams of sugar- so you shouldn't eat more than two apples per day? It doesn't
make sense.

~~~
metaphor
Interpret the term "sugar" to be "free sugar" as defined by the WHO[1] and
things will make a lot more sense:

> _“Free sugars include monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods and
> beverages by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally
> present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates "_

In other words, the natural sugar in apples technically wouldn't be
applicable.

[1]
[http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/149782/1/9789241549...](http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/149782/1/9789241549028_eng.pdf)

~~~
perl4ever
What is the theological explanation of why sugar cane, beets, and corn are
tainted with original sin and the other plants are not?

Many bottled fruit juices have their bulk made of juice from a cheaper fruit
that doesn't match the label...but it's not sugar cane, beets, or corn. Does
this make them ok?

~~~
metaphor
To your question, I honestly don't think the WHO would base their definition
of "free sugar" on anything with theological underpinnings outside the domain
of sound science.

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Railsify
After being a soda addict for 10 years, I only drink water, coffee and the
occasional red bull, sugar free if I remember to grab the light blue can.

