Martha’s NBC News Video on Sugar Intake

Did anyone catch the 11 pm NBC news segment this past Thursday? If so,  you would have seen me talking with Ida Siegal in Gristedes supermarket dicussing hidden sources of sugar! Aside from it being a very bad hair day, the segment went great. Check out the video.

The purpose of the segment was to discuss sugar in foods – added vs. natural. We talked about looking at food labels for sugar content. Since it is impossible to tell if the sugar is from an added source or a natural fruit or milk sugar, you have to search the ingredient list for terms such as agave sugar or nectar, apple juice concentrate, brown sugar, corn syrup, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, honey, molasses, maple syrup, raw sugar, table sugar, powered sugar,  evaporated cane sugar, etc.  For more info on sugars, check out my recent post.

FYI: the goals for added sugar for a woman is 24 grams or 6 tsp.  or 100 calories and for a man is 38 grams or 9 tsp or 150 calories. The average Anmerican consumes 22 tsp or 355 grams a day!

Have you noticed any foods or drinks that are shockingly high in added sugar?