Protect Your Heart From Sneaky Added Sugars

You’re probably aware that consuming large amounts of added sugars are associated with overweight, obesity, and diabetes. But it might surprise you to know that added sugars also increase your risk for heart disease.

In fact, a study published in the November 2014 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that people who consumed 17 to 21 percent of calories from added sugar had a 38 percent higher risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to those who consumed 8 percent of calories from added sugar. Moreover, those who consumed 21 percent or more calories from added sugar had more than double the risk.

According to the JAMA study, most Americans consume about 22 teaspoons of added sugar per day or 352 calories of added sugar, putting them at increased risk of dying from heart disease.

To protect against heart disease associated with added sugars, the American Heart Association recommends women have no more than 6 teaspoons of added sugar per day or 100 calories of added sugar and men have no more than 9 teaspoons per day or 150 calories of added sugar.

Just as the word implies, added sugars are added to food. They include:

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• Sugars and syrups that food manufacturers add to products like sodas, yogurt, candies, cereals, and cookies
• Sugar you add yourself—like the teaspoon of sugar in your coffee

When manufacturers add sugar to foods they’re not increasing nutritional value, just boosting calories. Some foods have sugar naturally—like fruits, vegetables, and milk. Naturally occurring sugars come with many nutritional benefits like fiber in fruit and calcium in milk.

The following tips will help you limit your intake of added sugars:

Make Some Healthy Shifts

• Eat fruit for dessert instead of cookies or cakes
• Swap sugary cereals for unsweetened cereal with fruit
• Drink water or low-fat milk with meals instead of sodas
• If you choose to have a soda, select a smaller size
• Add 1 teaspoon of sugar to your tea or coffee instead of 2
• Make sweet desserts and snacks, such as cookies, cakes, pies, and ice cream, a once-in-a-while treat and choose a small portion when you enjoy them
• Choose packaged foods that have less or no added sugars such as plain yogurt, unsweetened applesauce, or frozen fruit with no added sugar or syrup

Check the Ingredients List                                                                                                                 Look for added sugars in the ingredients list. Ingredients used in the greatest amounts are listed first, followed by those used in smaller quantities. Food manufacturers often list added sugar using terms like brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, sucrose, trehalose, and turbinado sugar.

Added sugars also hide in foods that you might not expect. They’re common in foods like pasta sauces, crackers, pizzas, and more.

Watch the Condiments

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Condiments such as barbecue sauce, ketchup, and salad dressing can have added sugar. Two tablespoons of ketchup have about 2 teaspoons of sugar—almost one-third the daily recommendation for women! Read the ingredient list and choose brands that have no added sugar or sugar listed as the 5th ingredient or higher.

Read the Nutrition Facts Label

The current Nutrition Facts label does not distinguish between naturally occurring and added sugars. But that’s about to change. The U.S Food and Drug Administration finalized a new Nutrition Facts label that will make it easier for you to determine how much added sugar is in your food. You should start to see the new Nutrition Facts label in 2018.

Constance Brown-Riggs, MSEd, RD, CDE, CDN is a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, national speaker and author of The African American Guide to Living Well with Diabetes.. She is Dannon One Yogurt Every Day Nutrition Advisor.