Darya Pino, a health blogger, posted on The Huffington Post on April 8th, 2010 talking
about the amount of sugar in common food products. Sugar comes in many
different shapes; sugar cane, high fructose sugar, white sugar,
artificial sweeteners, honey, fruits and so on. We as American tend to
want our foods sweeter and sweeter. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey
of 2001 to 2004 found that the average American is enjoying 22.2
teaspoons of sugar per day, while children ages 14-18 have the highest
intake of sugar per day at 34.3 teaspoons per day. One thing that I
learned while I was in Naturopathic Medical School was that a single
teaspoon of sugar can knock your immune system out for 4 hours. This
makes me worried that every single American is going around day to day
without a fully function immune system. Ms. Pino's blog goes on to list
19 common foods and the amount of sugar in them; I have listed them
below for you and she tried to list as close to normal serving sizes as
possible.
1. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
.........................................................10 g
2. Luna
Bar berry almond
....................................................................................11
g
3. Froot Loops breakfast cereal 3/4 cup
............................................................12 g
4.
Ben & Jerry's vanilla ice cream
.....................................................................16 g
5.
Starbucks caffè latte grande 16 oz
..................................................................17 g
6.
Godiva 2 truffles
..............................................................................................17
g
7. Subway 6? sweet onion teriyaki chicken sandwich
......................................17 g
8. Ms. Field's chocolate
chip cookie
...................................................................19 g
9.
Tropicana 100% orange juice 8 oz
..................................................................25 g
10.
Yoplait original yogurt
.................................................................................27
g
11. Craisins dried cranberries 1/3 cup
................................................................29 g
12.
Vitamin Water 20 oz bottle
............................................................................33
g
13. Oscar Mayer Lunchables crackers, turkey & American cheese
...................36 g
14. Coca-Cola Classic 12 oz can
.............................................................................39
g
15. Sprinkles Cupcake red velvet
..........................................................................45
g
16. California Pizza Kitchen Thai chicken salad
...................................................45 g
17. Jamba
Juice blackberry bliss 16 oz
................................................................49 g
18.
Odwalla SuperFood 450 ml bottle
..................................................................50 g
19.
Starbucks caffe vanilla frappuccino grande 16 oz
.........................................58 g
Take a good look at the list, this list only includes 19 foods, but
consider what you eat on an everyday bases. Sugar has many negative side
effects; I thought I would list 19 of them since we just looked at 19
foods with high levels. Negative effects include, but are not limited
to:
1. Reduces tissue elasticity and contributes to saggy skin
2.
Contributes to breast cancer, rectal cancer, gastric cancer and ovarian
cancer
3. Causes premature aging
4. Exacerbates adrenal
dysfunction
5. Impairs the structure of DNA
6. Increases blood
pressure
7. Increases allergies
8. Increases eczema
9.
Contributes to cataracts
10. Increases fluid retention and bloating
11.
Causes constipation
12. Causes migraines
13. Contributes to
depression symptoms
14. Contributes to Alzheimer's Disease
15.
Feeds cancer cells
16. Increases the risk of Low Birth Weight Infants
17. Increases Estrogen in Men
18. Makes PMS worse
19.
Increases antisocial behavior in children
As the consumers of these sugary foods it is our job to educate
ourselves on better alternatives. Not all foods are created equal. From
Ms. Pino's list we see that some of the "healthier" marketed foods have
some of the highest amounts of sugar. Consider switching your diet from
the processed/packaged food diet to one of a more whole foods rich diet;
rich in naturally sweeten fruits and veggies. It can and will take the
body a while to realize that foods we no longer consider sweet, such as
fruits, are sweet again.
Anita M. Larrow, ND
For further information - Please read Darya Pino Article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darya-pino/shocking-sugar-content-of_b_514879.html
For further information on The National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey please see the Circulation at http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/reprint/CIRCULATIONAHA.109.192627