Tufts Gives Scoop On Sugar

Wed., Jan. 27, 1999

Sylvia Rector Detroit Free Press

The average American’s diet contains 20 teaspoons - 320 calories - of added sugar every day, according to this month’s Tufts University Health & Nutrition Letter.

That’s not counting the natural sugars in foods such as milk, legumes and fruits, says the article, based on a new U.S. Department of Agriculture report.

Some comes from predictable places - 10 teaspoons in a Pepsi or Coke Classic, or 5.5 teaspoons from a Hershey’s milk chocolate bar.

But read labels and you’ll find some surprises, Tufts cautions. Dannon French Vanilla Low-Fat Yogurt With Raspberries, for example, has 13 teaspoons of sugar per cup, compared to 4 teaspoons in plain low-fat yogurt.

To figure out whether a product contains added sugar, check the ingredient list for these words: white, brown, raw or cane sugar; corn syrup or high-fructose corn syrup; honey, molasses or sorghum syrup; or fruit juice concentrate, says Tufts. Four grams of sugar equals 1 teaspoon.

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Tufts Gives Scoop On Sugar

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

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