to enjoy up to six teaspoons of added sugar and increase sugar awareness in our communities.

The World Health Organization Guideline recommends adults and children to reduce their daily intake of processed sugars to below 5% or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day to create immediate health benefits. 

Here at Diabetes Education Services, in addition to helping our students succeed as Diabetes Educators, we care about the health and awareness of our community. 

We have created the Joy of Six – Sugar Pledge Resource Page to raise awareness on the health risks of consuming large amounts of processed sugar and more so, the benefits of cutting back.

We are asking our community to pledge their support by signing the pledge below to minimize daily sugar intake to less than 6 teaspoons a day and get the word out about sugar.

? Pledge Now

The first 100 pledgers will receive a free Medication PocketCard in the mail. 

“We have solid evidence that keeping intake to less than 10% of total energy intake reduces risk of overweight, obesity and tooth decay,” says Dr Francesco Branca, Director of WHO’s Department of Nutrition for Health and Development. 

Over the next three weeks, we will be sending out sugar facts via FaceBook and our CDCES Coach App.

Thank you again for joining us on the journey to making our communities happier and healthier. 

We have all heard the saying, “a calorie is a calorie”.  But, the latest science is calling this thinking into question.

Take almonds. In 2012 it was discovered that a one-ounce serving of almonds (about 23 nuts) has 129 calories as opposed to 160 that’s currently listed on the Nutrition Facts Panel. Interestingly, it has nothing to do with the composition of the almond—rather, how well we chew the nut and how the energy is used by our gut bacteria determines it’s caloric value.

Same concept applies to sugar.  It is true that one teaspoon of sugar equals 14 calories. And the more sugar a person eats, the more likely they are to exceed their bodies nutritional demands and gain weight.

How the body uses sucrose, is the bigger problem.

Sucrose – it’s worse than just an empty calorie.

Sucrose isn’t just about calories injested. Since fructose is a by product of sucrose utilization, the more sucrose consumed translates to the more fructose on board. Excessive fructose is metabolized in the liver and converted to fat. Excessive fructose intake wreaks havoc on health – leading to fatty liver disease, inflammation, insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.

How much added sugar is in that food?
Reading food labels to determine how much added sugar is in foods can be tricky.

In sugary beverages like soda and sport drinks, it is straight forward, since the only calorie source comes from added sugar or HFCS. In the label below, for 1 serving of soda, there are 39 gms of added sugar. Each teaspoon of sucrose is 4gms.
Take total grams of sugar 39gms /4 =  to get total teaspoons of sugar per serving.  There are ~ 10 teaspoons of sugar in 12 ounces of Coca Cola.

Fast Fact: 1 teaspoon of sucrose (table sugar) = 4gms.
1 teaspoon of sugar has 16 calories.

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Here is the tricky part. Let’s look at this container of Chobani Yogurt.

For one serving, the label states there are 16 gms of sugar. Does that mean there are 4 teaspoons of added sugar in this yogurt?
Not necessarily.

Some of the sugar is from milk sugar (lactose) in the yogurt that is included in this sugar count.

The difficulty of figuring out how much sugar is from added sugar and how much is from other carbs already in the food product is particularly mystifying.
Especially for mixed foods that contain both carbs and added sucrose like granola bars, cereals, jams and more.

In truth, this yogurt only has 3 teaspoons of sugar (12 gms), not the full 16 gms.

Until the New FDA Food Label that will list ADDED SUGAR is released in 2018, we have to be our own “added sugar” detectives.

The good news is that we have help with this FREE app from Fooducate. The Fooducate Sugar Rush App allows you to see how much sugar has been added to foods!
Just scan the barcode of any product and instantly see a breakdown of naturally occurring and added sugars.

How are you going to spend your 6 Teaspoons Today?

I love this campaign, because the goal is not to eliminate sugar, just to eat less. This 6 teaspoon a day recommendation is for all people, with or without diabetes. We have the opportunity to improve the health of our people, starting today.

Think of added sugar more as a special treat or a condiment to be used sparingly and enjoyed.

As for me and Anne, we are going to spend our 6 teaspoons of sugar on a yogurt (3), a few chocolate covered almonds and a little ice cream. What are you going to spend your teaspoons on?

Test your knowledge with our Special Sugar Questions of the Week and thanks for considering the Joy of Six.

The two most common sugars added to foods are sucrose (white table sugar) and High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). From a biochemistry standpoint, these disaccharides are broken down into a 50/50 ratio of glucose and fructose.  The 50% glucose, enters the blood stream and is utilized for energy.

The other 50% fructose enters a different energy pathway.

Fructose gets a direct pass through the portal vein to the liver.  The liver utilizes needed fructose for energy and the rest is converted to fat. 

Over time, a liver bombarded with fructose develops fatty liver disease.

Fast Fact: Up to 70% of obese people with diabetes have fatty liver disease. 

If Fructose is unhealthy, what about Fruit?

Fructose is a type of sugar that occurs naturally in fruits and some vegetables.  The good news about natural fructose is that it is wrapped up as part of the food’s complete nutrient package which includes energy, fiber, and essential micronutrients. 

According to Beth Rosen, MS, RD, “The difference between fructose in fruit compared to High fructose corn syrup in sweetened beverages is the concentration. While a 20-oz bottle of cola contains 36 grams of fructose, an apple contains 12 grams of fructose per serving, and a serving of strawberries contains 4 grams. This means that you would need to eat 3 apples or 9 cups of strawberries to equal the amount of sugar in a soda.” 

Following the national guidelines, encourage patients with diabetes to enjoy eating about 3 servings of fruit, spread throughout the day.

Addes sugars are camouflaged in foods including ketchup, breads, granola bars, cereals, yogurts, and many other processed foods.
But, by far, most Americans consume their sugar in beverages including:

• Sodas and Sports Drinks (contain avg 6-12 tsps of sugar)
• Fruit Drinks (contain 6-10 teaspoon of sugar)
• Fancy coffees and other specialty beverages

Sugary Drinks Negatively Affect Health. Studies have found:

• Drinking one or two sugary drinks a day increases risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 26%

• After six months, daily consumption of sugary drinks increases fat deposits in the liver by 150 percent, leading directly to both type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

In America, about one quarter of our calories come from added sugar. In the early 1800s, sugar was considered a luxury and a treat, that was enjoyed on special occasions.

Our increasing intake of added sugar mirrors our rising rates of obesity and diabetes.

In 2009, the American Heart Association (AHA) noted the relationship between added sugar consumption and cardiovascular disease.  “AHA recommends that women limit sugar intake to to 6 teaspoons a day and men limit sugar to 9 teaspoons a day.”

In 2013, The American Diabetes Association Standards of Care states, “people with diabetes should limit or avoid intake of sugar-sweetened beverages (from any caloric sweetener including high fructose corn syrup and sucrose) to reduce risk for weight gain and worsening of cardiovascular risk profile.”

In 2015 the World Health Organization and the FDA recommends that no more than 5-10% of calories should be obtained from added sugars (This equals about 6-12 teaspoons daily).

Fast Fact: There is no white sugar found in fresh fruits, vegetables, wheat, legumes and all whole unpackaged or unprocessed foods.  Sucrose is derived from cane and beets and added to foods.

Humans do not need sucrose to live. 

August 2017 – Short and Sweet – Less Sugar, Better Health

Americans are eating about 30 teaspoons of added sugars a day. 

In the early 1800s we ate about 2 teaspoons of white sugar a day.

Obesity was rare in the 1800s. Today, about 70% of Americans are overweight or obese.

Recently, 3 prominent health organizations have recommended we limit daily added sugar consumption to 5-10% of daily calories.
These organizations include:

• The World Health Organization
• The American Heart Assoc.
• The Food and Drug Administration

It is time to take action and decrease sugar intake.

Added sugar, in the form of sucrose or high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), offers no nutritional value. 

If we decided to eat less added sugar starting today, we would not suffer from any nutritional deficiency. On the contrary, we would get healthier. 

As research is now demonstrating, over exposure to added sugar is associated with fatty liver, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and hyperglycemia.

Currently, 45% of the people in the U.S. have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. That’s too many.

What if the simple action of Reducing Added Sugar to 6 Teaspoons a Daycould slow this worrisome health trend?

We are launching a public awareness campaign called “The Joy of Six.”

We invite you to take the pledge and help get the word out about sugar.