Young Men Consume the Most Added Sugars
The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that from 2005 to 2010, young U.S. adults consumed more added sugar than older people. Government researchers also found that although sugary beverages are usually blamed for the increase in sugar consumption among Americans, foods from home were the greater source. Only one-third of the calories consumed from added sugars came from sweetened beverages.
The report, which was published in the National Center for Health Statistics Data Brief, states that the number of calories consumed from added sugar declined with advancing age. People aged 60 and above consumed significantly fewer calories from added sugars compared to people aged 20 to 59.
The U.S Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that no more than 5 to 15% of calorie intake should come from fats and added sugars combined. However, it was found that about 13% of adults’ total calorie intake came from added sugars.
The researchers also found that men consumed 335 calories per day from added sugar compared to only 239 calories by women. Black adults were found to consume more calories from added sugar than did white or Mexican-American adults.
The CDC states that more than one-third of U.S. adults are currently obese and consuming too much sugar has been associated to an increased risk for weight gain and obesity.
Registered dietitian Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis believes that this new report “shows that efforts to educate Americans about healthful eating are still falling short.” Study author Dr. Bethene Ervin, a nutritional epidemiologist at the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Md states that there is a need to exert more effort to reach specific groups that are not making healthy diet changes readily.
Source:
Mann, D. Younger Men Biggest Consumers of Added Sugars: CDC. HealthDay.
Posted in: Food, News Briefs, Sugar, Weight Gain
Tags: added sugar, sugary beverages
