Ever think about much sugar is in the food you’re eating? It’s hard to keep track of in college when you’re constantly surrounded by sugar, but it might be time to start paying attention.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is suggesting a sugar limit for the first time. For adults, 12.5 teaspoons (or 50 grams) of sugar is the most you should be eating per day. Mother Jones reports that some Americans eat up to 30 teaspoons of sugar per day currently.
Refinery 29 points out that one bottle of soda can have 65 grams of sugar—Well over that recommended dose!
If you think 50 grams isn’t a lot for a limit, the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association recommend that you only have 25 grams per day. How can you manage your intake? Pay very close attention to labels and hidden ingredients such as sucrose, maltose, high fructose corn syrup and others. And for us college students, just trying to cut back on jungle juice at parties or ice cream and cookies at the dining hall could have a big impact on improving our sugar intake.
To make things easier, the FDA proposed for a percent daily value of sugars to be added to labels—This shouldn’t be more than 10 percent.
Will you start paying attention to your sugar intake, collegiettes?