Cut The Sugar: Recommendation of The American Heart Association

What: The American Heart Association recommends most American women should not consume more than 100 calories of added sugar a day. Added sugar refers to sugars added to foods during processing, during cooking or when a food is consumed. The recommendation works out to about six teaspoons of added sugar a day for women and about nine teaspoons for men.

Why: Currently, Americans take in more than 22 teaspoons of added sugar (355 calories) on average, each day. Excess intake of added sugars has been linked to numerous health problems, including obesity, high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease and stroke. The Heart Association said that soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages are the major source of added sugar in Americans’ diets. Its new recommendations are in a scientific statement issued Aug. 24.

Why You Should Care: Of the numerous heart problems and health issues linked to the excess intake of added sugars, African Americans feel the brunt much worse.

• African American women have the highest rates of being overweight or obese compared to other groups in the U.S. About four out of five African American women are overweight or obese.
• African American adults are 40% more likely to have high blood pressure, yet they are 10% less likely than their non-Hispanic White counterparts to have their blood pressure under control.

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