Is sugar making us fat?

Face it: we’re fat. Yes, we’ve taken low-fat and no-fat pledges, but government statistics and a trip to the beach show we’re just getting fatter. That has occurred even though many of us replaced bacon and eggs with a low-fat breakfast bar, traded in that roast beef luncheon sandwich for a can of Slim Fast and pick out fat-free dinners in the deep freeze.So why are 175 million Americans still classified as either overweight or obese? Some nutritionists argue that maybe we got bad advice, and they are rethinking the public fight against fats in food.

There is absolutely no question that Americans have developed a very sweet tooth.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that over the last 40 years, per capita consumption of sugars has increased an astonishing 32 percent — from 115 pounds of all sorts of sugars per year in 1966 to 152 pounds in 2000.

Some nutritionists say increased sugar consumption is alarming, clearly the cause of the obesity epidemic. Others argue that the modern couch potato lifestyle is responsible for the larding of America.

You don’t always know it, but there is added sugar in the processed foods you are eating today. McDonald’s acknowledges on its Web site that sugar is an ingredient in its french fries, and nutritional studies show a Burger King Whopper contains more than a teaspoon of sugar. Nutritionist Nancy Appleton, author of "Lick the Sugar Habit," calculates 3 1/2 teaspoons of sugar in a cup of Frosted Cheerios and about 10 teaspoons in a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola. There are 15 calories in each teaspoon.

Products labeled low fat often have the highest levels of sugar. Sugar is a cheap ingredient, and food processors add it to other ingredients to keep the food tasty or to change the texture.

Dieters might be surprised to find there is more sugar in a can of strawberry Slim-Fast diet drink than in a quarter cup of M&M candies, and that low-fat and "healthy choice" breakfast bars with fruit filling have as much sugar as chocolate eclairs. Almost half of each teaspoon of ketchup is sugar, according to Appleton. Food companies label sugar content in grams: Every four grams translates into one teaspoon of sugar.

A 12-ounce Starbucks Grande Caramel Mocha coffee has the equivalent of almost 12 teaspoons of sugar, and if you have a Cinnabon Caramel Pecanbon with it, add another 12 teaspoons, according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit group.

Some scientists contend people have become so preoccupied with preaching about the dangers of fats and the wonders of low-fat diets that they haven’t paid sufficient attention to the amount of sugar dumped into food.

Food without sugar or fat doesn’t have much taste, and "we aren’t horses," noted Robert Keith, a professor of nutrition at Auburn University.

"People have become overzealous about taking out all the fats. There are essential fatty acids we need to have," Keith said. The fats, he said, give substance to food — what scientists call "satiety values" — a sense of fullness after eating that sugars do not provide.

There is no agreement among scientists on how much sugar should be allowed in food.

The World Health Organization says adding sugar to food is making people fat and recommends that people limit sugar consumption to 10 percent of caloric intake each day. A panel of American scientists with the National Academy of Sciences earlier this year said there is no solid data to validate a recommended level, but concludes that daily diets containing more than 25 percent sugar are unhealthy because the sugar interferes with absorbing other nutrients.

Studies estimate that sugars currently account for 16 percent of the average U.S. diet — up from 12 percent 50 years ago — and reaching the World Health Organization recommendation would require many Americans to cut back sharply.

Some nutritionists say this could easily be accomplished by consuming fewer soft drinks, cookies and cakes. They plan to push the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to emphasize the need to cut back on sugars when the agency reviews its nutrition label policy this year.

David Lineback, director of the Joint Institute of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the University of Maryland, said sugar is being blamed for increases in obesity that could just as easily be linked to overeating, portion super-sizing and inactivity. "Sugar is an easy and convenient scapegoat," he said, noting how much the American diet has changed in recent years. "If you ask me as a scientist, there is very little evidence sugar is responsible."

Andrew Briscoe, president of the Sugar Association, says the World Health Organization report is based on flawed science. He said his association will lobby Congress to reduce the $400 million in U.S. contributions to the WHO because of its negative views on sugars.

But the World Health Organization also has strong defenders. Nutritionist Marion Nestle, chairwoman of the Department of Nutrition and Food at New York University, said the 10 percent recommendation is in line with current prevailing scientific and government opinion.

"This has been decided for decades," she said, noting the current food pyramid issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, recommends people limit consumption of sugars to 12 teaspoons a day. That translates to 180 calories out of an average 2,200 calories of daily consumption.

Nestle said she would back much lower levels of sugar intake — no more than six teaspoons a day of added sugars — and argues that people get sufficient sugar naturally in fruits and vegetables.

Adam Drewnowski of the University of Washington’s center for public health nutrition, said economics is driving food processors to use more sugar in manufactured food because sugar is so cheap.

"They have rigged the food — sugar is ubiquitous in everything," Drewnowski said. "Sugar and fat are the cheap calories, and we are evolutionarily driven to them."

Drewnowski also urges people to be cautious about the low-fat labels on food and watch out for sugars.

"Slim-Fast, one pound can, has 267 grams, 66 percent sugar. You can’t tell me that sugar in Coke makes you fat, but sugar in Slim-Fast is going to make you slim. There are just a few more nutrients in the Slim-Fast," he said.

Others scientists minimize the role of sugar in the obesity epidemic and contend the problem is that Americans aren’t exercising sufficiently for the amount of food they eat.

"We need to talk about calories," said Alison Kretser, nutritionist with the Grocery Manufacturers of America. "It’s the number of calories as well as an excess of inactivity."

Cathy Nonas, director of obesity and diabetes programs at North General Hospital in Harlem, N.Y., agrees.

"It’s a calorie game. Nobody has ever proven that sugar will make you fat unless you eat too much of it. Fat is still more easily stored," she said. "It’s not as if you feed people sugar, it will make them fatter on its own. Sugar is an empty calorie and those who eat a lot of it tend to eat a lot of fatty stuff. And people are eating bigger portions and eating more times a day than ever — and all that, along with inactivity, contributes to obesity."

We are big raw sugar users too. I've never understood the idea that sugar is supposed to look like baking soda.

Half and Half is a product of loonies. It ushered in the idea of light beer. Cream is thick and pours like a milkshake. No sugar in my coffee though. Only espresso and only with cream.

Real eggs produced by healthy chickens have yolks the color of a dark orange sunrise, not yellow.

Apples have spots, grapes are sticky and ripe when you have to fight with the yellow jacket bees for them. Tomatoes must be eaten within minutes of picking them, and as a rule of thumb, the hotter the flame and the shorter the time your food spends over it is how flavor can be found.

Damn I'm getting hungry.

I've been on Atkins for just over a week and have lost 8 pounds already. I feel great. The brownies my daughter just baked smell delicious and I am tempted, but I will be strong. ;^)

Eat less. Eat less of foods that are high in fat and sugar. Eat as much of your food as close to raw as possible, fresh fruit and raw vegetables are perfect. Enjoy meat if you like but watch the fat. Get off your butt and do some real excercise. Hike, don't mosey. Sign up for an aerobic activity, martial arts, callisthenics, running(if you can stand it) but get up and get moving. Drink less alcohol and more water. Believe it or not you can enjoy the effort as well as the results.

I think my grandma was wise to the Atkins diet before Dr. Atkins himself. She always badmouthed refined sugar and refined flour, but she would happily eat every part of a cow including brains and sweetbreads. Lots of fruit and vegetables, a fair amount of eggs, and moderate milk and cream. I don't remember her cooking noodles or pasta even once. She used sweet-n-low or occasionally honey if something had to be sweetened. She also tended to serve pretty small portions. I didn't like eating at her house, but she lived to be 92 and my grandfather to 98, and neither of them died of a heart attack, so must be something to it...

I try to choose my carbs from glycemic index....high glycemic (starchy) carbs are bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, carrots, etc, low glycemic are all the greenies, berries, etc. Eating a baked potato is exactly like snorting about two cups of sugar. It all turns into exactly the same thing in the body. So no, restricting sugar intake won't work. It's only part of the story.

The Zone diet explains all of this. It's the best I've ever tried. Somehow Atkins didn't work. After following it religiously for three weeks, I felt better than ever, but did not lose one single ounce. Three weeks on the Zone, I'd lost about 8 pounds. Careful selection and balance of carbs, protein, and fats is the key for me.

I fear the lawsuit-happy libs will race to court about sugar and fats, never realizing that carrots, rice, and beets, vegan mainstays, are just as fattening.

Sugar isn't fattening. If it is why was I a scrawny little runt all my childhood even though I munched on about five candy bars a day?

What makes a person fat are genes that produce too many fat cells, and a person kicking those fat cells into action by doing too much sitting and eating anything and everything.

Dieters might be surprised to find there is more sugar in a can of strawberry Slim-Fast diet drink than in a quarter cup of M&M candies, and that low-fat and "healthy choice" breakfast bars with fruit filling have as much sugar as chocolate eclairs

WOW! ill stick with M&Ms and chocolate eclairs..

Sugar doesn't make us fat. Fat makes us fat!! The "fat" in foods is a necessary nutrient and is NOT the same thing as "fat" around your waistline. Waistline fat comes from too much sugar and carbs.

I think the worst thing that happened to this country is the idiots who came up with the food pyramid.

Those weren't idiots - it was the Archer Daniels Midland corporation, with help from their paid stooges in Congress. Nothing like getting the government's seal of approval slapped on your entire product line to ramp up sales.

I lost 56 pounds on Atkins since 1/24/03.

Congratulations! I've lost 30 pounds on Atkins since 4/7/03 - got about 15 more to go. It works.

Sugar isn't fattening. If it is why was I a scrawny little runt all my childhood even though I munched on about five candy bars a day?

You most likely have a high metabolism and got a lot of exercise. The body will burn alcohol for fuel first, then carbs, then body fat. The key to weight stabilization (or loss) is to not eat so many carbs that they get stored as fat instead of being immediately burned for fuel.

And that magic amount of carbs/day is different for each person. For you it might be 200 g/day. For someone else they may only be able to take 75.

Main reason . . . everybody quit tobacco

LOL!!! You're so right! When I quit smoking six years ago, I packed on 20 pounds almost overnight and have yet to shake them, no matter what I eat or don't eat. OK, I was really skinny, and could have used ten of them, and I'm quite fit and carry the extra ten pretty well, but sometimes I fantasize about how much easier it was to smoke than to do step aerobics or Body Pump :-)

Something I've heard about lately is the God Made/Man Made plan. Three or four days of only God Made food followed by one day of man made food. Simple and allows for the occasional treat.

Good Made/Man Made is excellent plan and catchy, memorable phrase. I hope I'll remember it at cruch time!

Golly, think of the amount of lime I'll have to add to rum-and-coke to bring it into balance. Mutter, mutter.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.