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The Food and Drug Administration is recommending a daily cap on sugar for the first time.



http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/1...on-of-added-sugar/?ref=health&_r=1

Health experts have been nudging Americans to kick the sugar habit for years, and now it’s official: The Food and Drug Administration is recommending a daily cap on sugar for the first time.

While dietary guidelines have been encouraging people to cut back on sugar for decades, the focus has largely been on preventing weight gain. But new research suggests a high-sugar diet may have metabolic effects, separate from weight gain, that promote chronic disease by causing inflammation, insulin resistance and hypertension.

Most recently, sugar in the diet has also been implicated in cardiovascular disease deaths: A large study led by Dr. Hu reported last year that adults who had the highest intake of sugar — consuming 25 percent of daily calories as sugar — were nearly three times more likely to die of heart disease over a 14-year period, compared with those whose sugar intake was less than 10 percent of calories.

I have found that by eating less and less sugar, that I do not need or crave it or require it as much in foods and beverages I consume.

Many foods I consume have natural sugars in them.

The sugar and food industry relies heavily on added sugars in many many food items found on the grocery shelves.



We discussed some of this before in the archived thread:

Is Sugar Really Killing Us? (by ImperialEagle Feb 4 2014 in Non Aviation)

[Edited 2015-11-10 06:51:12]

Quoting DIRECTFLT (Thread starter): Health experts have been nudging Americans to kick the sugar habit for years, and now it’s official: The Food and Drug Administration is recommending a daily cap on sugar for the first time. While dietary guidelines have been encouraging people to cut back on sugar for decades, the focus has largely been on preventing weight gain. But new research suggests a high-sugar diet may have metabolic effects, separate from weight gain, that promote chronic disease by causing inflammation, insulin resistance and hypertension. Most recently, sugar in the diet has also been implicated in cardiovascular disease deaths: A large study led by Dr. Hu reported last year that adults who had the highest intake of sugar — consuming 25 percent of daily calories as sugar — were nearly three times more likely to die of heart disease over a 14-year period, compared with those whose sugar intake was less than 10 percent of calories. I have found that by eating less and less sugar, that I do not need or crave it or require it as much in foods and beverages I consume.

About time. Like oxygen, sugar is essential for life but it is also very toxic.

There is more to it than just amount. If I drink a shot of vodka every hour for 10 hours, I'll barely feel it. If I take ten shots of vodka right now all in one go, I'll become very sick and my lightweight butt might even die.

An apple has 10-12g of sugar in it, but because the sugar is locked up inside of cell walls and whatnot, it takes 2-3 hours for your GI tract (starting with your teeth) to extract all that sugar. Thus, the overall blood glucose rise and corresponding rise in insulin is small and easily controlled. By contrast, 4oz of apple juice also has about 12-15g of sugar in it (26-30g/8oz) but it's in solution so the absorption is very rapid (minutes). Now, it's a bit complicated because of course fruit like apples have very little glucose and most of the sugar is fructose, so the insulin spike isn't as high (technically fructose has a glycemic index of zero) but that's actually worse as the blood sugar levels rise without a compensatory rise in insulin.

The limit should be on ADDED sugar, which dissolves rapidly into solution and is absorbed rapidly, vs naturally-occurring sugar that requires more digestion for a slower absorption. But I can see how the FDA would not want to confuse issues with the general public.

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 1): The limit should be on ADDED sugar, which dissolves rapidly into solution and is absorbed rapidly, vs naturally-occurring sugar that requires more digestion for a slower absorption.

I don't think the FDA is overly worried about people eating too much fruit...
 

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 1): But I can see how the FDA would not want to confuse issues with the general public.

My reading is that the FDA does want to limit added sugar and that labelling should indicate how much added sugar products contain.

Opposition appears to be coming from.various food and sugar industry councils, some if whom argue that labelling tends to confuse. Maybe they do but excuse me if I suspect that they have motives for any changes that could affect their sales.

Quoting DocLightning (Reply 1): The limit should be on ADDED sugar, which dissolves rapidly into solution and is absorbed rapidly, vs naturally-occurring sugar that requires more digestion for a slower absorption. But I can see how the FDA would not want to confuse issues with the general public.

Actually, it has nothing to do with confusion. People aren't so dumb as to not know the difference between sugar that occurs naturally in foods and added sugar. It is the sugar and processed food lobbies that want to avoid a distinction.

Quoting N1120A (Reply 4): People aren't so dumb as to not know the difference between sugar that occurs naturally in foods and added sugar.

I think youre giving some people to much credit.

But Pizza will still be classified as a vegetable in schools, right?

Added sugar is not the only danger !
Everything that increases rapidly the glucose level in blood is dangerous in large quantities (pizza, bread and in fact everything with flour, but also rice and many more things should be taken in small quantities, or at least smaller than the average American serving).
Of course added saccharose is a real problem.