It is hidden in our breakfast cereals, our morning coffees and lattes and our late night snacks. It can be found in the majority of our condiments, drinks, snacks, and meals. It lurks in almost all processed foods, breads, and dairy products. If you walk down any aisle in the grocery store and pick a product, chances are, you will find it inside: sugar. This seemingly harmless ingredient, when eaten in excess as it is today, can cause long term health problems such as heart disease, type one and two diabetes, and even decrease lifespans. The World Health Organization recommends that a solid daily intake of sugar should not exceed more than 25 grams per day which is around 6-8 teaspoons (Jaslow, par. 1). However, the average American consumes 22 teaspoons of added sugar a day which is equivalent to 88 grams of sugar per day (Mercola, par. 3). This is more than triple the recommended daily intake. It is not surprising that two out of every three adults in America are considered overweight or obese (Overweight, par. 3). This is a serious problem and in order to fix it we need to completely change our diets to consume less sugar and work to pass legislation that will require food companies to differentiate between natural sugars and added sugars in their products.

Dr. Robert Lustig, a professor of Clinical Pediatrics in the Division of Endocrinology in the University of California points out that consuming excessive amounts of sugar causes many damaging problems to arise in the body including liver damage, high blood pressure, heart problems, and kidney disease (Mercola, par. 11). In addition to all these diseases, eating excessive amounts of sugar leads to a condition known as NAFLD, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, the same disease contracted from excessive alcohol intake. The Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s working group on added sugars supports this as well saying that there is strong scientific evidence that added sugars, especially in sugar full drinks such as soda, raise the risks of added weight and obesity, as well as type 2 diabetes (Do Americans, par. 1). Too much sugar consumed in a diet can cause serious issues to the body. This does not just include regular sugar. Some of the many sugar-like products include agave nectar, brown sugar, cane crystals, evaporated cane juice, corn syrup, maltose, and dextrose. Sugar, no matter what form it takes, when eaten in excessive amounts can cause many damaging problems to our bodies and we have to make sure that this doesn’t happen.

According to Harvard T.H Chan School of Public Health, by law, the Nutrition Facts Label has to list the grams of sugar in each product however many foods naturally contain sugar (Added Sugar, par. 7). The sugar that we need to be worried about is added sugar and, at this point in time, food labeling laws do not require companies to differentiate natural sugar from added sugar (Added Sugar, par. 7). There needs to be more specific laws created to make sure that the American public is aware of how much added sugar they are consuming daily. Added sugar adds only calories and zero nutrients to foods (Frequently, Par. 1) . Food companies need to start putting the percentage of the daily recommendation of sugar in the Nutrition Facts Label. In addition, there should be a section for natural sugars, sugars that are found naturally in the food, and for added sugars in the Nutrition Facts Label as well. In order to ensure that we consume less sugar we have to be aware of how much sugar we are currently consuming. Accurately labeling sugary products is the first step in this direction.

Whether it be to use fresh fruit instead of sugar for our oatmeal or to choose regular milk instead of chocolate milk for school lunches, we need to make a conscious effort to change our own eating habits and consume less sugar. The first step is to be aware of what foods contain added sugar. It is easy to be aware that foods such as cakes and cookies contain added sugar but added sugar also shows up in sneaky places like spaghetti sauce and salad dressing (both of which can contain 3 teaspoons of sugar per serving almost reaching half the daily limit of sugar). Even a breakfast of orange juice and processed cereal can put you well over the daily limit of sugar in one meal (Fed Up). Unfortunately, it’s not only adults who are being negatively affected by this increase of sugar in the American diet. “Children aged 2 to 19 consume seven trillion calories of sugar-sweetened beverages a year” says Dr. Gortmaker, Professor of the Practice of Health and Sociology at Harvard University (Brody, par. 20). People young and old are being affected by this problem of mass consumption of sugar. The only way we can stop this mass consumption of sugary products is if we simply stop eating as much sugary products. This has become a serious problem and in order to fix it we need to completely change our current diet. Only through change can we escape the negative affects of sugar.