By: Kris Sollid, RD Date: 5/11/10
Last week, some of America’s top nutrition minds circulated in our nation’s capital. The American Heart Association (AHA) convened in Washington, DC on May 5th and 6th for a two day forum for a pulse check on the state of the science surrounding added sugars. The conference brought together experts from the disciplines of food industry and technology, health and medicine, and nutrition policy to examine the anatomy of future science-based recommendations. Although their visit was short and sweet, the discussions highlighted the complexity of the subject and pointed out, once again, that there are no simple solutions to complicated issues.
Here’s a spoonful of thoughts that emerged from the two day discussion:
Food Industry and Technology
•There are several essential functions of sugar in foods beyond just sweetness, such as taste, texture, fermentation, browning, and control of water activity. For more about carbohydrate and sugars in food, click here.
•Replacements for sugars must be selected cautiously and may have unintended consequences.
•When regulations are imposed, the burden for food science is heavy.
•Will reducing added sugars in food impact consumer cost and acceptance?
Health and Medicine
•Due to the complexity of the issue, there is a need for increased public education in total calorie reduction, not just reducing intake of added sugar.
•The body does not distinguish “added sugar” in food from regular table sugar, and metabolizes each identically. To read more facts about sugar, click here.
•Sucrose (table sugar) is 50% fructose/50% glucose and HFCS is 55% fructose/45% glucose, hence the controversy between HFCS and sucrose is “meaningless”. For more fast facts about HFCS, click here.
•The vehicle of sugars is important—there are some types of sugars in vehicles such as cereals which lead to increased intake of micronutrients.
•Sugar can enhance the palatability of nutrient-rich foods, but does it increase consumption?
Nutrition Policy
•Official AHA scientific statement – “A prudent upper limit of intake is half of the discretionary calorie allowance, which for most American women is no more than 100 calories per day and for most American men, is no more than 150 calories per day from added sugars.”
•No particular sugars are targeted by the AHA recommendation; it’s a focus on all added sugars. To view FAQ’s about sugars in your diet, click here.
•There are insufficient data to set an exact upper limit for added sugar intake.
•Research is needed comparing health outcomes associated with added sugars and health outcomes associated with sugar in general.
What do you think about recent added sugar recommendations and/or the role of sugar in your diet?