men average 335 calories per day from sugar

men average 335 calories per day from sugar

From a story last month in usatoday: Adults consume 13% of calories from added sugars.

Sugar added to our food and drinks accounts for 13% of our calorie intake.

• Men: 335 calories per day
• Women: 239 calories per day
• Boys: 362
• Girls: 282

From the article:

"The latest findings are from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which is considered the gold standard for evaluating food and beverage habits because the data come from in-person interviews about dietary habits. These results are from interviews with about 15,700 adults, ages 20 and older, conducted from 2005 to 2010.

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About two-thirds (67%) of added sugars come from food; the other third (33%) from beverages.

"These results may underestimate the actual sugar intake because people may add sugar to cereal in the morning and to beverages such as coffee and tea," says the study's lead author Bethene Ervin, a nutritional epidemiologist with the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A similar study by Ervin and colleagues, out last year, showed that kids and teens are downing about 16% of their daily calories (322 calories) from added sugars. Boys consume 362 calories a day from them; girls, 282 calories.

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Added sugars include white sugar, brown sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, molasses and other caloric sweeteners.

Added sugars include all sugars used as ingredients in prepared and processed foods and beverages, such as cakes, candy, cookies, muffins, jams, chocolates, ice cream, sodas, fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, coffee, tea, flavored milk and alcoholic beverages.
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This isn't anything we didn't already know (see 5 steps to reducing your caloric intake), but it is another great reminder of how easily those snacks and processed foods can be the difference between losing and gaining weight.

A couple hundred calories could be the difference between being 100 calories under budget or 100 calories over budget - either losing a pound per month, or gaining a pound a month! (200 calories' worth of food - photo essay)

Eliminate sugars; eliminate calories. This is one of the low-hanging fruits, and should be one of the first things you do on your journey to losing weight and living a healthier lifestyle.

-Chris Butterworth