Nutrition Information About Sugar

The U.S. Drug Administration (USDA) reports American consumption of added sugars increased 17 percent from 1970 to 2006. The American Medical Association (AMA) recommends limiting daily caloric consumption, including all forms of added sugars, as caloric consumption increased by 520 calories a day. Fruits and vegetables contain not only natural sugars, but necessary vitamins and minerals. However, sugar and artificial sweeteners offer no nutritional value. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) set guidelines recommending sugar consumption comprise no more than 25 percent of a 2,000-calorie diet, but many nutrition experts believe that number should be no more than 10 percent.

Consumption

• Sugar has become an increasingly popular and cheap ingredient for food industries in industrialized countries to use in various products, making over-consumption of calories easier. Since 1985, the USDA reports that the use of sugar in products has increased by 23 percent. Without a doubt, sugary foods and beverages taste good and offer quick energy when you need it. However, nutrition wise, sugar amounts to nothing more than empty calories.

Nutrition Value

• Sugar does play an important role in the body. When you consume sugar, a portion of that gets turned into glucose, which is then absorbed and transferred by the liver to all other parts of the body. Some of that glucose becomes stored glycogen, which the body uses as a readily available energy source. Excess glucose, however, gets stored as fat if you don't metabolize it. Furthermore, eating highly processed food with refined sugars creates energy highs and lows, which leads to binge eating. In the end, excessive weight gain results from excessive caloric consumption.

Sugar Aftermath

• Over-consumption of sugar has been shown to depress one's immunity, elevate triglycerides to unhealthy levels and cause interference with metabolization of good cholesterol and fatty acids when vitamins and minerals are depleted from the body. Furthermore, the body's natural chemistry is impeded, causing increased insulin production, obesity, worsened depression, diabetes, heart disease, increased blood pressure, raised cholesterol and adrenaline levels, tooth decay, as well as chromium and copper deficiencies.

Low-Calorie Sweeteners

• For those trying to cut down on calories, artificial sweeteners may be used as a substitute for sugar cane. Artificial sweeteners are produced with either chemicals or some form of natural compounds. Since these low-calorie sweeteners are sweeter than their sugar counterpart, smaller amounts are needed, thereby reducing the amount of caloric consumption by people using them as a sugar substitute.

What the Experts Recommend

• Nutritional experts recommend keeping sugar intake to no more than 50 grams (13 tsp.) or 200 calories of total caloric intake a day. Furthermore, diabetics using artificial sweeteners to avoid blood sugar level increases still need to be careful. Blood sugar levels can rise with the amount of carbohydrates or proteins found in sugar-free products. Sorbitol or mannitol sweeteners also contain calories that could increase blood sugar levels. Flour, which is used in some of these sugar-free products, can cause blood sugar levels increases and undermine someone's weight loss efforts if on a weight loss plan.