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Cut Added Sugars Recommendation from 10% of US Diet to 6%?
Theoldguy1
Posts: 2,496 Member
in Debate Club
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans advisory committee is recommending lowering the added sugars recommendation to 6 percent of daily calories, from 10 percent for the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Amerians.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/11/sugar-2020-dietary-guidelines/
From the article:
"The committee, a group of 20 doctors, registered dietitians and public health experts, recommends reducing added sugars to 6 percent of daily calories, from 10 percent. The previous Dietary Guidelines took a major step forward in 2015 by suggesting added sugars be limited to 10 percent of total daily calories, but leading health organizations, supported by science, have long argued that lower limits would better protect health."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/07/11/sugar-2020-dietary-guidelines/
From the article:
"The committee, a group of 20 doctors, registered dietitians and public health experts, recommends reducing added sugars to 6 percent of daily calories, from 10 percent. The previous Dietary Guidelines took a major step forward in 2015 by suggesting added sugars be limited to 10 percent of total daily calories, but leading health organizations, supported by science, have long argued that lower limits would better protect health."
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Replies
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This is in Debate?
I can't see how cutting added sugar is ever a bad thing. So I'll weigh in on the Agree side.6 -
This is mostly politics. Those percentages affect the bottom line of various sectors in the US food industry. Thus, the lobbying effort from this or that faction is immense.
A quick example. Sometime ago, the US government was thinking of adding the number of added sugar in the labels of foods, using teaspoons as the measurement, instead of grams. You can imagine how the industry felt about that..
Here is a LWT video on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MepXBJjsNxs
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Here's an article you may find interesting too. To be honest, I lost interest half way
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/09/28/the-race-to-redesign-sugar1 -
The WHO recommendation is below 10% but below 5% is better, so this seems inline with that.
IMO, if you eat so much added sugar that you have to keep track of it to make sure it's under 5% or 10%, then that's more of an issue. I also tend to think of it as more of an average -- on many days I eat none or just a very few grams, so if I have a day where I have more it fits in overall.
I wouldn't find teaspoons especially useful vs grams, since everything else is in grams and I know that 1 gram of sugar = 4 cals.3 -
cmriverside wrote: »This is in Debate?
I can't see how cutting added sugar is ever a bad thing. So I'll weigh in on the Agree side.
I can see why you’d think this, but by this argument they might as well say the new guideline for sugar consumption is 0% of dietary intake.
But you can obviously see this isn’t helpful. Traces of sugar may be unavoidable, and guidelines are supposed to give some idea for most regular folks to understand what level of sugar consumption is acceptable. 10% is a good ballpark because it’s a number you can remember and conveys useful information. For example, people know that they shouldn’t be relying on processed sugar like candy and ice cream as their main source of nutrition, but it would be acceptable to have a small dessert.
6% is not *as* easily remembered and it might be perceived as a suggestion that sugar should never be consumed unless you consume foods that are accompanied by condiments like ketchup.1 -
cmriverside wrote: »This is in Debate?
I can't see how cutting added sugar is ever a bad thing. So I'll weigh in on the Agree side.
I can see why you’d think this, but by this argument they might as well say the new guideline for sugar consumption is 0% of dietary intake.
But you can obviously see this isn’t helpful. Traces of sugar may be unavoidable, and guidelines are supposed to give some idea for most regular folks to understand what level of sugar consumption is acceptable. 10% is a good ballpark because it’s a number you can remember and conveys useful information. For example, people know that they shouldn’t be relying on processed sugar like candy and ice cream as their main source of nutrition, but it would be acceptable to have a small dessert.
6% is not *as* easily remembered and it might be perceived as a suggestion that sugar should never be consumed unless you consume foods that are accompanied by condiments like ketchup.
But you missed the whole point of the thread - it was not to reduce ALL sugars, just ADDED sugars.6 -
There are somewhat healthy sources of sugars. For exemple maple syrup contains various vitamins and minerals and it is also high in antioxidants. Same with honey. I implement those in my diet but I understand it's not what the average American consumes.
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I think we should get down to 10% first, before attempting to more than half the current consumption.
https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/special-issues/eating/sweet-stuff
...About 15% of the calories in the American adult diet now come from added sugars.3 -
There are somewhat healthy sources of sugars. For exemple maple syrup contains various vitamins and minerals and it is also high in antioxidants. Same with honey. I implement those in my diet but I understand it's not what the average American consumes.
Those aren't considered added sugars.1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »I think we should get down to 10% first, before attempting to more than half the current consumption.
https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/special-issues/eating/sweet-stuff
...About 15% of the calories in the American adult diet now come from added sugars.
Why sugarcoat (no pun intended) if the goal needs to be 6% why put it out that 10% is okay?0 -
The debate should be.................do I have to cut out Almond M&M's?
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »There are somewhat healthy sources of sugars. For exemple maple syrup contains various vitamins and minerals and it is also high in antioxidants. Same with honey. I implement those in my diet but I understand it's not what the average American consumes.
Those aren't considered added sugars.
If honey or maple syrup are added to foods, they are considered added sugar for the purposes of FDA labeling. They aren't required to *list* added sugars on their label when they're sold alone, but that's because they ARE sugar and no additional sugar is being added to them.8 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I think we should get down to 10% first, before attempting to more than half the current consumption.
https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/special-issues/eating/sweet-stuff
...About 15% of the calories in the American adult diet now come from added sugars.
Why sugarcoat (no pun intended) if the goal needs to be 6% why put it out that 10% is okay?
For some people, if they view a goal as "too hard" they blow off the whole concept.
Have you eaten at 6 or 10%?2 -
There are somewhat healthy sources of sugars. For exemple maple syrup contains various vitamins and minerals and it is also high in antioxidants. Same with honey. I implement those in my diet but I understand it's not what the average American consumes.Theoldguy1 wrote: »Those aren't considered added sugars.janejellyroll wrote: »If honey or maple syrup are added to foods, they are considered added sugar for the purposes of FDA labeling. They aren't required to *list* added sugars on their label when they're sold alone, but that's because they ARE sugar and no additional sugar is being added to them.
Agreeing with Jane - they're only not considered added on THEIR labels, but when added to other foods, they are indeed added sugars.5 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I think we should get down to 10% first, before attempting to more than half the current consumption.
https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/special-issues/eating/sweet-stuff
...About 15% of the calories in the American adult diet now come from added sugars.
Why sugarcoat (no pun intended) if the goal needs to be 6% why put it out that 10% is okay?
For some people, if they view a goal as "too hard" they blow off the whole concept.
Have you eaten at 6 or 10%?
I think this is a really legitimate point to bring up - if you make the goal lower, you increase the number of people who decide to not even bother because it seems impossible.4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I think we should get down to 10% first, before attempting to more than half the current consumption.
https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/special-issues/eating/sweet-stuff
...About 15% of the calories in the American adult diet now come from added sugars.
Why sugarcoat (no pun intended) if the goal needs to be 6% why put it out that 10% is okay?
For some people, if they view a goal as "too hard" they blow off the whole concept.
Have you eaten at 6 or 10%?
Do we water down the goal of 100% mask adherence in areas where mandated because it may be "to hard", of course not, even though less than 100 % compliance is likely the result. The 6% sugar goal has been developed by experts in the field because, from research Americans, on average, are consuming too much added sugar with health consequences.
As to myself, I haven't strictly tracked and done the math, but I don't drink anything with added sugar, consumption of cakes, cookies, candy, etc. is very limited and I don't drench foods in bottled condiments. Based on my diet I'd say I'm in the 10% or less range and have been for years.
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kshama2001 wrote: »There are somewhat healthy sources of sugars. For exemple maple syrup contains various vitamins and minerals and it is also high in antioxidants. Same with honey. I implement those in my diet but I understand it's not what the average American consumes.Theoldguy1 wrote: »Those aren't considered added sugars.janejellyroll wrote: »If honey or maple syrup are added to foods, they are considered added sugar for the purposes of FDA labeling. They aren't required to *list* added sugars on their label when they're sold alone, but that's because they ARE sugar and no additional sugar is being added to them.
Agreeing with Jane - they're only not considered added on THEIR labels, but when added to other foods, they are indeed added sugars.
As is something like concentrated fruir juice, in my understanding: "Added sugars include sugars that are added during the processing of foods (such as sucrose or dextrose), foods packaged as sweeteners (such as table sugar), sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices". (https://www.fda.gov/food/new-nutrition-facts-label/added-sugars-new-nutrition-facts-label).
Not sure, but if I"m reading that literally, putting date sugar in another food product would not count as added sugar. (Date sugar is ground-up dried dates, quite sweet.)1 -
kshama2001 wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »I think we should get down to 10% first, before attempting to more than half the current consumption.
https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/special-issues/eating/sweet-stuff
...About 15% of the calories in the American adult diet now come from added sugars.
Why sugarcoat (no pun intended) if the goal needs to be 6% why put it out that 10% is okay?
For some people, if they view a goal as "too hard" they blow off the whole concept.
Have you eaten at 6 or 10%?
I've eaten at 0.2% and it was pretty easy once I got into it. The hardest part was starting, as time goes on it gets easier and easier. However it conflicts with modern society where there is abundant processed sugar all over the place.3 -
The WHO recommendation is below 10% but below 5% is better, so this seems inline with that.
IMO, if you eat so much added sugar that you have to keep track of it to make sure it's under 5% or 10%, then that's more of an issue. I also tend to think of it as more of an average -- on many days I eat none or just a very few grams, so if I have a day where I have more it fits in overall.
I wouldn't find teaspoons especially useful vs grams, since everything else is in grams and I know that 1 gram of sugar = 4 cals.
You always post exactly what I'm thinking but can't seem to articulate...2 -
The WHO recommendation is below 10% but below 5% is better, so this seems inline with that.
IMO, if you eat so much added sugar that you have to keep track of it to make sure it's under 5% or 10%, then that's more of an issue. I also tend to think of it as more of an average -- on many days I eat none or just a very few grams, so if I have a day where I have more it fits in overall.
I wouldn't find teaspoons especially useful vs grams, since everything else is in grams and I know that 1 gram of sugar = 4 cals.
Oh I'm sure it's meant to be an average over a period of time. A good sized piece of birthday cake with a scoop of ice cream would blow the daily added sugars way over 5-10% for the average person. But if this was a once every month or 2 thing and the individual wasn't going crazy with added sugar most days not an issue.
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What about added fats, are there any recommendations for that? I don't think eating large quantities of butter and vegetable oil is necessarily good.0
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What about added fats, are there any recommendations for that? I don't think eating large quantities of butter and vegetable oil is necessarily good.
My personal experience-it depends.
I've been doing a very low carb woe for a while now and my sugar intake is pretty close to zero, (regardless of added or natural). My macros split is high fat, moderate protein, almost zero carb. 'Larger' quantities of fat lines up with my woe/goals. If I was to continue to eat a high fat diet though and then added in sugar/carbs, things would become unbalanced because I'd be consuming excess calories. Same if I started adding more protein, without cutting back on fat.
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What about added fats, are there any recommendations for that? I don't think eating large quantities of butter and vegetable oil is necessarily good.
Less than 10% sat fat is a common recommendation (Cleveland Clinic, for one, probably the Dietary Guidelines). Other sources just say to limit lower nutrient sources of cals, such as added sugar and added fats, without specific numbers.2 -
An aside - I really wish MFP would start tracking added sugar....not overall sugar. I'm pretty good on that front - and a positive stat is always encouraging.1
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lauriekallis wrote: »An aside - I really wish MFP would start tracking added sugar....not overall sugar. I'm pretty good on that front - and a positive stat is always encouraging.
FWIW, there's a place for added sugar in the MFP database already, and I believe it can be entered already via the phone/tablet app (but not entered/seen in the web version). The problem is that it isn't on food labels worldwide, not even universally in the US yet, so it will be a very long time before that data is reasonably well populated into the crowd-sourced database. If you use the app, you could begin editing the foods you like to use, and adding it, if that seems worth the effort.0 -
lauriekallis wrote: »An aside - I really wish MFP would start tracking added sugar....not overall sugar. I'm pretty good on that front - and a positive stat is always encouraging.
FWIW, there's a place for added sugar in the MFP database already, and I believe it can be entered already via the phone/tablet app (but not entered/seen in the web version). The problem is that it isn't on food labels worldwide, not even universally in the US yet, so it will be a very long time before that data is reasonably well populated into the crowd-sourced database. If you use the app, you could begin editing the foods you like to use, and adding it, if that seems worth the effort.
I can't find a place to enter added sugar when creating a new food on my app, maybe it depends on the version of the app?0 -
lauriekallis wrote: »An aside - I really wish MFP would start tracking added sugar....not overall sugar. I'm pretty good on that front - and a positive stat is always encouraging.
FWIW, there's a place for added sugar in the MFP database already, and I believe it can be entered already via the phone/tablet app (but not entered/seen in the web version). The problem is that it isn't on food labels worldwide, not even universally in the US yet, so it will be a very long time before that data is reasonably well populated into the crowd-sourced database. If you use the app, you could begin editing the foods you like to use, and adding it, if that seems worth the effort.
I can't find a place to enter added sugar when creating a new food on my app, maybe it depends on the version of the app?
Maybe. I went into "Foods" in "Recipes, Meals & Foods", and opened one of my foods to edit, on my Android phone before posting what I did above. It seems willing to let me enter data into that field, but I didn't try to save it. Hmm, did just go back in and try saving it. It seems to work. Must be version specific, or varies exactly where one can enter it? (I didn't try entering a food from scratch, or editing a public one.) But it's obvious this is something MFP's been at least considering/working on.
It seems surprising to me this is an important variable to some (in MFP, not on labels, where I will find it informative), but I truly think that's a limitation of my brain, not intended as a criticism of others. I go over the MFP default sugar goal pretty much daily, but so little of it is added sugar, and it's in the context of sensible calories/macros/micros/fiber, that I don't worry about it. Amusingly, the one big source of added sugar I eat pretty much daily is one you'd have to pry away from me for nutritional reasons, because it brings me over 900mg of potassium, and 25% iron (and tastes great in my oatmeal, besides! 😉).
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