Federal government urges Americans to limit sugar to 10% of daily calories
Concerned about the cholesterol and fat in your diet? That's so 2015.
If you want to stay on the cutting edge of nutrition advice, what you should really worry about are added sugars, according to a new report from the federal government that urges us to cut back – way back – on sugar.
The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends limiting the amount of added sugars in our diet to no more than 10% of daily calories. That's about 12 teaspoons of sugar a day. To put that in perspective, a can of Coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons.
Most of us would have to make big changes in our diets to follow the new guidelines.
Americans on average get about 13% of daily calories from added sugars; teens get closer to 17% of calories from added sugars, according to the new report. The natural sugar in foods such as raisins, apples or milk are not considered added sugars.
Nearly half of the added sugars in American diets come from sweetened beverages, such as sodas and sports drinks, according to the guidelines, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Food and Drug Administration also has proposed changing food labels to list added sugars. The current label lists "total sugar," a combination of added and natural sugars. The Sugar Association opposes the labeling change, arguing that there's no scientific reason to differentiate added versus natural sugars.
Why new dietary guidelines matter
The Sugar Association, an industry group, criticized the new advice on added sugars.
"We maintain these 'added sugars' recommendations will not withstand the scrutiny of a quality, impartial evaluation of the full body of scientific evidence," the group said in a statement. "As with past examples of dietary guidance not based on strong scientific evidence, such as eggs, the 'added sugars' guidance will eventually be reversed. The lack of scientific rigor in this process has and will continue to result in consumer apathy, distrust and confusion."
Another big change this year: Americans no longer need to count the amount of cholesterol in their food, according to the guidelines. Research shows that a person's diet has a relatively small effect on cholesterol levels in the blood, which are more influenced by a person's genes.
According to the guidelines, Americans aren't just eating too much sugar.
They're also consuming too many saturated fats, refined grains and sodium. Men eat too much meat, poultry and eggs. But Americans don't eat enough fruits, vegetables, whole grains, seafood or dairy, according to the report.
Half of all U.S. adults – about 117 million people – have a preventable, diet-related chronic disease. Two-thirds of Americans are obese or overweight, thanks to a deadly combination of poor diet and lack of exercise, according to the report.
Obesity costs the USA at least $147 billion a year in medical costs, including the costs of treating weight-related disorders. Diabetes alone costs the USA $245 billion, according to the guidelines. The costs grow even larger when economists factor in the number of days missed from work because obese people are too sick to go to the office. These costs range between $3.38 billion and $6.38 billion a year, according to the CDC.
Americans can begin to eat better by making "small shifts" in their diets, such as by preparing meals at home, said Sylvia Mathews Burwell, secretary of Health and Human Services.
Americans "don’t need to make huge, fundamental changes," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Small changes can add up to big differences."
While few Americans will read the new report, which is aimed at professionals and policy makers, health groups and food industry lobbyists have paid close attention. That's because the Dietary Guidelines for Americans shape what millions of people eat and influence billions of dollars in federal spending.
The guidelines form the basis for federal nutrition policies, including the $16 billion National School Lunch Program, which serves 31 million children daily, and the $4 billion Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, which serves 8.3 million people. The Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs also consider the guidelines in their programs.
Lobbyists came out in full force to try to influence the new report.
More than 70 organizations signed up to speak at a hearing on the guidelines in March. Speakers included representatives from such diverse food industry groups as the North American Meat Institute and the Beer Institute and USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council.
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, which advocates a vegan diet, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments, charging that the agencies allowed the food industry to influence the new recommendations on cholesterol.
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