Experts recommend limiting added sugar to six teaspoons a day to improve health

Medical Xpress / British Medical Journal / The BMJ ^ | April 5, 2023 | Yin Huang et al

[Arkansas Toothpick]

I have not given up sugar 100%, as I’ll occasionally splurge on a piece of cake at a gathering or some sweet tea, but on most days, I consume no added sugar in the form of candy, sodas or other sweets. It benefits me greatly, as I feel much better physically, and I have also noticed a 20-point drop in my systolic blood pressure. I am always skeptical of a lot of dietary claims and sensationalism, but I do believe added sugar is detrimental to health.

[OldMissileer]

When a headline reads, “Experts,” the warning bells go off and I take whatever comes next with a grain of salt.

[GaryCrow]

There are 4 calories/gram, for carbohydrates. 6 tsp weighs about 24g. That means about there are about 96 calories in 6 teaspoons of sugar. That’s about 1/3 can of pop.

A can of coca-cola has 55g of added sugars. Sugar is the devil, it's the reason Americans are so fat and it's not the added calories that come from it. It's what it does to our insulin levels. Sugar causes our bodies to overproduce insulin and leads to swings that cause us to pack on pounds. There's sugar added to EVERYTHING in the U.S., our bread is loaded with it unlike the bread in Europe which is much healthier. It's why the French eat bread all day long and don't gain weight while we puff up like balloons.

Minimizing sugar is very good advice.

[Jonty30]

Getting a bread maker would go a long way to removing sugar because you could throw in the ingredients that you want and it will be ready by morning.

I use a bread maker and it takes maybe two minutes to throw the ingredients together.

[GaryCrow]

That’s a good idea. I love bread and am in Paris often for work, it’s amazing how much better the bread is there than the crap we have in the U.S. I’m no Euro snob either, there’s a lot of stuff they do that I just shake my head at but their bread and wine is head and shoulders above ours.

[Jonty30]

What I do know about you is that you are probably jealous of those of us who are home by 6pm. :)

[Mr Rogers]

Dude, I’ve watched countless hours of video and read at least a dozen books. Here is part of the truth: As much as I despise vegans, there ARE vegans who do fine. I’m 90% carnivore, but that is NOT the answer for everyone.

I know lots of healthy people who do NOT need to tightly control their carbs. But I do.

And the common link I’m seeing is people who first got very fat often need to cut carbs to the bone. People who never got fat - because they never over ate sugar and breads? Doesn’t matter for them.

YouTube videos will teach you anything you want to be taught. However, you can’t go too far wrong if you simply do the opposite of what the US Government says...

[GaryCrow]

True

[Nervous Tick]

6 tsp a day??? Seems like a lot to me

Yep.

How about zero?

And no artificial sweeteners either.

[Nervous Tick]

>> I’m careful to select which experts will recommend doing what I would anyway.

ROFLMAO! Well said, +1.
There are PLENTY of “experts” to choose from, and more creating themselves... oops, I mean being created... every day.

[MayflowerMadam]

“you can’t go too far wrong if you simply do the opposite of what the US Government says...”

Ain’t that the truth!

[sauropod]

I usually don’t.

Restructuring my diet. Trying to cut out the carbs.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Lay off the soda pop and add ten hears to your life.

[GaltAdonis]

"I switched to Truvia ... widely available..."

.

I am using erythritol - (which is like Xylitol) an alcohol sugar (byproduct of fermentation)
with no side effects.

I also use monk fruit extract - all natural - it is sweet
but the sweetness of it is NOT from sucrose (like sugar). I also use stevia extract - from the leaves of the stevia plant.

Likewise, it is sweet without containing sucrose.
The human digestive system doesn't recognize the sweeteners in them -
and just passes them along.

There also are blends of of monk fruit / stevia and erythritol
which are both available in my supermarket and they are what I use:

Good Luck!

[JimRed]

Real sugar is the original plant based sweetener.

[GaltAdonis]

Correct.
And real sugar is sucrose.

[Carriage Hill]

Thanks.
Best of luck to you, as well.
Happy Easter!

[jmacusa]

About the only plentiful bugs in my neck of NJ are mosquitos and I ain’t eating them! *Yuck*. (btw your post was hilarious.)

[Carriage Hill]

“I also use stevia extract - from the leaves of the stevia plant.”

That’s the same plant, from Central America, that Truvia comes from.