The verdict on sugar consumption is in – we are guilty of over-consumption and we need to curb our desire to satisfy our sweet tooth. The newest edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2015-2020) issued in January by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture contains the specific recommendation that consumers “reduce added sugar consumption to less than 10% of calories per day.”
There is an increasing belief among health professionals that added sugar consumption has contributed to the obesity epidemic and that it is associated with health complications like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 29.1 million Americans (1 in 11 people) have diabetes, another 86 million Americans (1 in 3) have prediabetes, 735 million Americans suffer a heart attack annually and 610 million Americans die from heart disease each year.