For science- a question about sugar in the diet

jennasbarton
jennasbarton Posts: 23 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hello,

I am looking for some opinions about sugars in the diet for an experiment I am running for my blog about added sugars. I'm not condemning or advocating anything but I wonder how other people who count their macros regularly for either weight loss or maintenance set a level of sugar for the day and why?

I noticed that MFP gives me a recommendation of 45g a day and although I have been avoiding anything with an added sugar component I still go over this from whole foods on an average day. Where is this 45g coming from? American Heart Assoc and the NHS offer guidelines on how much added sugar we should stop at on a daily basis but suggest that sugar from wholefoods doesn't need to be monitored unless one is diabetic. Agree? Disagree? How come? What do you find successful?

Many thanks!
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Replies

  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    stevencloser wrote: »
    MFP can't distinguish between added and non-added sugars because nutrition labels don't, so the number it gives you is largely useless as you noticed by going over from whole foods.

    I don't monitor my sugars at all, but I noticed that just by having a mostly nutritious diet, sugar numbers tend to fall within the guidelines by themselves, as others have noticed too.

    The guidelines are mostly meant for people not monitoring their calorie intake, it's easy to overeat on foods high in added sugars as they tend to be high calories and low nutrition and that's not good because it means you either have a harder time getting in the nutrition you need or end up overeating calories, both of which aren't optimal but it's basically a non-issue for anyone monitoring their food intake.

    /thread
  • jennasbarton
    jennasbarton Posts: 23 Member
    I didn't ask about distinguishing added sugars from natural sugars via MFP. I'm asking if anyone knows how the number is set for sugars and if anyone puts much effort into hitting this number and why? When I say where is this 45g coming from I meant how is the number established as a recommendation, not where in my food it is it coming from.
  • Carlos_421
    Carlos_421 Posts: 5,132 Member
    jennasbarton wrote: »
    I didn't ask about distinguishing added sugars from natural sugars via MFP. I'm asking if anyone knows how the number is set for sugars and if anyone puts much effort into hitting this number and why? When I say where is this 45g coming from I meant how is the number established as a recommendation, not where in my food it is it coming from.

    It's a somewhat arbitrary number based on the idea that diets higher in sugar will likely also be higher in calories.
    There's not some hard and fast rule about how much sugar is optimal for weight loss. It all comes down to calories.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
    jennasbarton wrote: »
    I didn't ask about distinguishing added sugars from natural sugars via MFP. I'm asking if anyone knows how the number is set for sugars and if anyone puts much effort into hitting this number and why? When I say where is this 45g coming from I meant how is the number established as a recommendation, not where in my food it is it coming from.

    The government?
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    There's no recommendations for "All sugars" as far as I know. The MFP numbers seem to be pretty arbitrary. Mine says 89 g, regardless how high I put my calories or carbs, even if total carbs is less than that. I just tried.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    To add, I eat plain yogurt and it shows as 5grams of (lactose) sugar.
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Carlos_421 wrote: »
    queenliz99 wrote: »
    To add, I eat plain yogurt and it shows as 5grams of (lactose) sugar.

    But...but...why?? There are blueberries!!

    I add oreos! FTW!!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I don't pay any attention to the sugar limit, whether added to food or not. I just pay attention to getting sufficient protein and fat and let the carbohydrates (of which sugars are a part) fall wherever they will.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I don't track the sugars. The carb number is more important to the T2 diabetic (I'm in remission but I still eat like a diabetic).
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
    My calorie goal without exercise is 1530, and MFP has my sugar goal at 57g. Yesterday with exercise my calorie goal was 1764 and sugar goal was 65. So looks like 15% I guess? If you want to know why MFP chose that number, you might try contacting MFP support. I don't know of any agreed upon % or gram number from any govt or health agencies. I leave it on my diary for curiosity sake, I don't really try to hit any particular number.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    Well first off what are you calling a sugar? Are you talking just mono and disaccharides such as glucose or sucrose or are you also including all carbohydrates (which are basically various combinations of sugars).
  • queenliz99
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
    Who are you?

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