January 8, 2010 The Skinny on Sugar: How Much is Too Much?
Cake, cookies, ice cream… even baby formula. Sugar. It’s everywhere! And if you’re a normal parent (is there such a creature?), you wonder: how much sugar is too much?
I’ll tell you the magic number in a minute. But before we get to that, let me say, it doesn’t really matter.
You won’t be able to keep track of the number of added sugar grams your kid consumes because it would meaning reading every label on every product that you buy (unless you only buy things like peas). And if you have more than one child, you would need to dedicate a good portion of the day to tracking sugar grams.
So just forget about the number.
When it comes to sugar consumption you only need to consider one thing: How often is sweet the flavor your kids consume?
Do your kids start the day with brown sugar/cinnamon instant oatmeal, snack on to blueberry or vanilla yogurt, have chocolate milk and PB&J for lunch and then enjoy an afternoon treat? If so...
1) You are training your children’s taste buds away from the healthy food you’re always trying to get into them. If you want your kids to eat – and enjoy – vegetables and other unsweetened foods, you have to expose them to a wide range of flavors.
2) You are creating a sweet habit your kids will have to break later in life. Regular cookies, candy and ice cream consumption might seem harmless now, but kids who frequently eat sweets turn into adults who do, too. If you’ve ever tried to cut out your afternoon cookie craving, you know how tough a task that can be. (Just ask my husband!)
There is no recommended daily value for sugar consumption, like there is for protein or fat, but nutritionists often set 10% of total caloric intake as the guideline.
Using the 10% guideline, kids should consume no more than 25-30 grams of sugar per day (depending upon age and activity level).
(By the way, sugar consumption for adults should be about 50 grams, based on a 2000-calorie diet.)
Look at how easy it is for our kids to hit the magic mark of 30 grams of sugar.
- 1 8-ounce juice box (30g) OR
- 1 cup of chocolate milk (27g) OR
- 1 Quaker Oatmeal Raisin Breakfast Cookie (15g) + 1 YoBaby Blueberry Yogurt (13g) OR
- 1 Wild Blueberry muffin at Panera Bread (34g) OR
- 1 Mrs. Fields Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip Cookie 28g OR
- 1 bag of Welch’s Fruit Snacks, Mixed Fruit (37.5g) OR
- 1 bag of Skittles (47g)
And this doesn’t even take into account the sugar found in spaghetti sauce, peanut butter and jelly, pancakes (and the syrup), and yes, even your favorite bread.
You don’t have to read labels, and do higher math to keep your kids sugar intake at a reasonable level.
Just pay attention to the habits you want your children to develop – one sweet per day? – and feed them accordingly. It’s easier, quicker and way more effective.
~ Changing the conversation from nutrition to habits. ~
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Source: Product Nutrition labels; Zinczenko, D. and M. Goulding, 2008. Eat This Not That for Kids. New York, NY: Rodale.
Reader Comments (3)
You better believe I'm storing up all this knowledge, Dina!
Recently, the American Heart Association changed this recommendation to 100 calories of added sugar for women, and 150 calories for men (25.2g for women and 37.8g for men). There is no recommendation for children. Anyway, here's the link - the scientific papers accompanying the press release are a good read:
http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4471
Thanks for the sugar limit update. It's even less now, making it even more difficult to not overdo it. I'll definitely check out the article.
Dina