Today, I am doing something completely out of character. I am not focusing on the list of ingredients and instead looking at how much sugar is in SOOO many products these days.
The Problem With Sugar
The problem with sugar is honestly not sugar itself, but the quantity in which it’s being consumed. Over the last few decades our consumption of sugar has skyrocketed to “nearly 130 pounds of added sugars per person, per year,” which is ⅓ pound (or ⅔ cup) per day! That’s as much as four times as what's recommended...keep this chart handy as you review the products below:
The American Heart Association’s recommended daily allowance of sugar:
- 3 teaspoons of added sugar for children
- 6 teaspoons of added sugar for women
- 9 teaspoons of added sugar for men
According to Mark Bittman, "Added sugar . . . is the tobacco of the twenty-first century" and “probably the most dangerous part of our current diet.” One of the biggest concerns is that many people don’t realize how much added sugar they’re actually consuming. You might think you’re in the clear if you simply avoid sweets, but added sugar lurks in some pretty unexpected places, including salad dressings, dried fruit, spaghetti sauces, breads, cereals, condiments, flavored yogurts, beverages, and even crackers.
Added Sugar vs. Naturally Occurring Sugar
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Nature does a good job of packaging whole fruit with the right amount of sweetness and also the right amount of other nutrients (including fiber, which helps to slow absorption). So thanks to nature naturally occurring sugar that's found in whole foods is not to fear (whew!)...the much bigger problem is the white stuff! With this in mind, I tried to mostly select products for my little "Sugar Project" below that I believe are low in naturally occurring sugar so we can for sure know that the grams of sugar listed on the label are mainly referring to refined, added sugar (the stuff we need to cut back on). There are always exceptions to the rule though, which I explain below.
Why Artificial Sweeteners are No Better
Now if there's one thing I want to be sure of - I don't want anyone walking away from this post thinking they should go for the artificial sweeteners instead since they don't add up on the nutrition label. Just for the record, I'd MUCH rather eat "real" sugar over the artificial stuff any day. More on that here.
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1. Frosted Mini Wheats
This product is one of those that could be healthy if it weren't coverd in a blanket of sugar. If you're feeding this to your children for breakfast, yes, they'll be consuming some much-needed whole grains, BUT they'll also almost max out on their recommended daily allowance of added sugar with just one serving. Next time go for the plain wheat cereal ...even if that means sprinkling a ¼ teaspoon of your own sugar on top (which would be a huge improvement)!
2. Fruit Snacks
I am so tired of seeing these treats labeled as "fruit." The main fruit these contain is fruit juice, which, referencing what I said above about naturally occurring sugars, has been stripped of all the good nutrients and fiber that nature intended to go with all the natural sugar. So, while I'd personally rather drink fruit juice than eat straight-up sugar, I believe it should still be consumed in moderation as well.
3. Granola Bars
This right here is inspiring a "health foods that aren't healthy" post. Granola bars tend to have a "healthy" reputation (and I love the homemade version where you can control the amount and what type of sugar is added), but be careful that you aren't maxing out your added sugar for the day with one bar!
4. Froot Loops
I am guessing most of you don't think of "Froot Loops" as a health food, but isn't it interesting that even with the first ingredient in this cereal being sugar that it contains just as much added sugar as those "healthy" granola bars shown just above? And I promise my point here is not for you to eat more Froot Loops!
5. Sprinkles
Once again, we all know this product isn't a health food either, BUT I was a little surprised that just in 2 tablespoons of sprinkles my children would easily exceed their recommended daily allowance of sugar. Let's remember this doesn't even consider the sugar used in the cake or the frosting. So the next time you want to add some colorful sprinkles to your child's dessert, I would just say be cognizant about not going overboard.
6. Gatorade
Here's another "health" food that's really not. Kids are downing this stuff left and right and as you can see here, it's FULL of sugar - not to mention it's loaded with artificial dyes and other questionable ingredients. I think it's also worth mentioning that the bottle pictured here contains 2 ½ servings, which means it contains more than 13 teaspoons of sugar in total - ack! I personally think water is a great thirst quencher after being active, but I know some more serious athletes feel like they need "more" than that. Homemade gatorade recipes can be found online, and coconut water is another popular alternative to consider and discuss with whomever told you to drink this stuff in the first place!
7. Snickers Bar
Snickers commercials like to suggest eating their candy as a "snack," but now we can see that if you're really craving a candy bar you should consider eating half of one and most definitely count it as a dessert instead!
8. Sprite
Obviously regular sodas are full of sugar. But I must admit I was taken aback with how much! 16 teaspoons in this 1 bottle? Yikes! But don't think reaching for the diet version is any better. Be sure and check out my post on artificial sweeteners to read more about that.
Were any of these surprising to you? I'd love to hear what you think in the comments below!
(PS - If you want to do a little "Sugar Project" of your own at home - my kids actually thought this was fun to do - download my free Sugar Conversion Chart to help you decide exactly how many teaspoons are in all those grams you see on the label.)
Ken says
I have to admit that the Sprite content surprised me. For whatever reason, probably marketing, I will reach for a Sprite sometimes before water. Some part of me thought that it had less sugar or was less this or that than a regular Coke or Pepsi. Marketing these days is doing a really great job of messing up our perceived thoughts and beliefs.
Kris says
Oh that makes me sad as I love grape gatorade!!!!!!! : ( I also had no idea that the fruit snacks had that much sugar. WOW!
Kristin
Kate says
Nothing on this list surprises me. Well, maybe frosted mini wheats a little. We use a 1/3 rule for packaged cereal. Less than 1/3 of the grams need to be from sugar. Perhaps I need to adopt a lower threshold.
I don't necessarily prefer that they eat packaged cereal but I need to be realistic about the mornings at my house!
Natalia says
I was surprised to see how much sugar a bottle of Sprite has! And the granola bars and the gatorade. Thank you for making this information available to parents like me that want to feed their kids as healthy as possible but that don't have the time to go dig for the answers ourselves.
Thanks!
Jedha @ Good Food Eating says
Did you know there are anywhere between 20,000-60,000 products on supermarket shelves?!
Isn't that just crazy in itself?
~Around 80% of those contain added sugar even in products you wouldn't expect, and as Lisa's items show it can soon add up!
~In 2009 $1.8 billion dollars was spent on marketing to children by just 48 US companies
~86% of TV ads for children promote foods high in sugar and sodium
~17% of a toddlers intake now comes from ultra-processed foods like the ones Lisa included above
~Children are now exceeding their daily energy intake by 31%
~Food companies use many tactics to persaude consumers, look at the Welche's pack above, the colors, the fruit, the 'Family Farmer Owned', subtle suggestion that persaudes buyers
~It is difficult for people to ignore marketing and individual cost burdens can drive less desireable choices
Love your work Lisa, Great post :)
Charlee Anne says
I love that you put the amount of sugar next to the product. It really opened my eyes to just how much sugar there is in everything I consume. Thank you so much for being an advocate of healthy living!
Landon D. says
Been hearing good stuff about coconut water but never really considered it as a substitute for Gatorade. Kinda knew the Snickers bars were loaded with sugar. :)
Cassandra says
Okay. I just looked at our 2% milk and 1 cup of 2% milk contains 13 grams of sugar, or according to the conversion chart 3 1/4 tsp of sugar. How, in God's name, can one even come close to adhering to the guidelines for children if 1 cup of milk already throws you over the daily allotment? Am I missing something with what exactly 'ADDED SUGAR' means?
Margaret says
The sugar in milk is naturally-occurring so it doesn't count toward the allotment. Added sugar would be additional sugar -- on the ingredients list (like in chocolate milk).
Critical Reader says
The naturally occurring sugar (like lactose in milk) does not count. But even if you just sum up the obviously added ones from table sugar/honey/maple syrup etc. 12 g added sugar is not much. One whole-wheat, all-organic muffin has 10 g of added sugar and is frequently presented as healthy food. Add to that one of the 'Stoneyfield Organics' (sponsor of this site) products geared towards kids or for instance Apple Crunch from 'Peeled Snacks' (also sponsor of this site) and you are way above the recommended daily intake for kids.
Cassandra says
Wow. That makes things really difficult, I think, to stay within those guidelines above - even if you are on a 'food journey'. Like crazy difficult. One granola bar and it's over! What processed food did my kiddo have today? Whole-wheat muffin (from this site) which used maple syrup, so no clue there. Flour tortilla, 1 gram/1/4 tsp.(yeah, I know - I left before he packed his lunch), pretzels, 1 gram/1/4 tsp. That was about it. Oh, an organic lollipop - packing it in at 5 grams/1 +1/4 tsp. Well, that is not quite two tsp., with 3 being the limit, which I'll give over to the morning muffins. Not so bad, I guess, but, boy, you really need to be vigilant!
Critical Reader says
Sugar from maple syrup would actually count towards "added sugars". The same goes for HFCS, honey, fruit juice concentrates, palm sugar, etc. It is a misconception, that you can convert an unhealthy food like a muffin into something healthy by replacing table sugar with less processed sugars. However, the organic industry and many food bloggers (who are frequently financed by the organic industry) do an excellent job in making you believe that honey/maple syrup/etc. is so much better. There are many products out there chuck-full of sugars introduced through juice concentrates and advertised as "no added sugar".
Janet says
For me the fiber in the mini wheats outweighs the sugar content so I will still buy them.
Sprinkles on top of my ice cream is a definite so those stay on my list too, sugar or not.
Everything else can go :)
Thanks for the list.
Nadine says
I have a really hard time finding sugar-free cereal. I've only ever found one. Even the organic cereals are so high in sugar. This is one thing I find really frustrating.
Margaret says
I have found plain shredded wheat (1 ingredient), puffed grain cereals, and oatmeal to be our "no added sugar" options.
jules@lesssugarnaturally says
Oh I wish people would realize this, especially when there are young kids in the house. When I did my investigation of cereals and snack bars my son would argue with me because there was a health check (I think this is Canadian) symbol on so many of the products that were really the same as eating a chocolate bar. Most cereal and snack bars, even the ones in the health food store are full of sugar. No one can just assume.
Carrie Jaeger says
The husband and I are going to be starting on our journey this next Sunday and we have been reading until our eyes bleed! We just recently found out that ONE Chocolate triple thick shake has 163 grams of sugar in it! It's just amazing that you don't think of these things before you gulp it down. It's sad really, when there are so many people out there who just don't care. Most of my extended family are in that category. It makes me happy that my husband and I are on the same page. Love your blog! Glad a friend of mine shared a link with me with all your helpful into :D Thank you!
Carrie Jaeger says
I guess I should have mentioned that those shakes belong to McDonalds ;) No surprise there I guess.
Carmen says
What really knocked my socks off was finding sugar as an ingredient in SALT. Go figure!
Adrienne says
Growing up in the 80's, our house rule was "No Pepsi before 10am". At 10:01 my brother and I would be cracking open cans of pop and it was our staple drink for the rest of the day. Years later, it took a lot of effort to get sugar highs and lows out of my system. Great image with the Sprite. Really shows the magnitude of sugar in those drinks.
Liz says
2 TBS of sprinkles! You can't even fit that much on/in anything! I wouldn't even use that much on a WHOLE cake! Oh and Gatorade is designed for drinking after you've been sweating and need to replace what has been lost. So, I'm kind of ignoring both of those items on the list.
Margaret says
I think the biggest takeaway from the sprinkles photo is that in 2T (6 teaspoons) of sprinkles, you have 4.75 teaspoons of sugar. So basically pure sugar with artificial color.
Alice says
The original Gatorade was designed that way. But to mass market it to everyone and sell more they added sugar. Companies have people taste test products and ask them what they prefer or what they would rather have. Like mentioned before, sugar is addictive and people crave/want the product with more sugar.
Also, unless you are an athlete performing intense workouts or workouts in intense heat you would be perfectly fine to have water.
Amy H says
This summer, I intend to do a little "sugar seminar" with my 7 year old, so she can have her eyes opened to what she is actually consuming. I look forward to using your conversion chart. Thank you!
Megan says
I agree 100% with Bittman that added sugar is the tobacco of the 21st century.
That being said, most of the foods on this list are foods I would actually expect to be very high in sugar. Perhaps people who aren't as far along on the real food journey would be surprised, but some of them were actually lower than I would have guessed.
It would be more interesting to me to do this with foods that you wouldn't expect to have sugar at all and see how much there is added. For example, in a recent scan of my pantry and fridge I found a box of natural, organic frozen chicken strips with sugar as the third ingredient! Why on earth does chicken need any sugar?!
Dad says
I think the Snickers one should probably not be on the list. The others look fine.
Karen says
One product that had us fooled was nutella. We thought it was equivalent to peanut butter. The name implies it's a nut product and the commercial shows a health conscious mom giving it to her kids for breakfast. However, a serving of nutella has 7 times as much sugar and 1/4 the protein of peanut butter.
Katelyn says
Nutella first ingredient is sugar. I consider it more along the lines of a frosting and not a nut spread.
Kristin says
Actually, most peanut butter in general is high in sugar when compared to natural peanut butter which is just peanuts and salt.
Stephanie says
wow...yeah water is soo much better!!! but i am going to try making my own gatorade for post workout recovery!!!
Cassandra says
There is a recipe/blog post on that on this site. I just used it for my kiddo who had a tummy bug for a few days. She loved it - her special juice. It took a few tries to get the right kind of juice to go well with the salt/sugar mix, but it was okay!
Mindy says
I'm surprised, but also excited to know that we will be able to see how many added sugars are in our foods once the new labeling takes effect.
Holly says
Frosted mini wheats, surprising - glad you exposed. These are a staple here because of the short list of relatively natural ingredients. Clif Bars, been buying generic/organic at Aldi - these are pricey even there so I'm glad you exposed these esp in comparison to Fruit Loops. Gross! Happy to find your lara bar recipes. Thx for sharing! So things sweetened with processed fruit juices aren't any better than a refined processed white sugar?
Michelle says
So what is the verdict on "KIND" bars in relationship to the cliff bars?
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy) says
Hi Michelle. Most Kind bars are much lower in sugar. ~Amy
Mallory says
Great post! I think the most impactful is the last photo of the Sprite. Yes, we all know that soda contains "a lot" of sugar, but there's something seeing the amount in a bottle compared to other things we know have sugar that seems so crazy! Just a suggestion, to make it even more impactful, since you clearly went to great lengths on this photo shoot, a coloured back drop would make the sugar in the glass more visible.
Chance says
OMG!
Daniel says
Omg!
Margaret Anne @ Natural Chow says
Wow! I had no idea there was that much sugar in one bottle of sprite! I'm so glad I don't drink that. I didn't think there was that much added sugar in Clif Bars either. I've never bought them, but I had no clue! Also, I prefer a homemade smoothie (http://naturalchow.com/2014/02/easy-kale-blueberry-and-banana-smoothie/) where it's naturally sweetened with dates and other fruit. Great post!
Chance says
OMG!!!!
Miriam says
Very surprised at the Clif Granola bars! Aside from the Lara bars, which are not always available at my local supermarket, I thought these were the next best choice after reading all the ingredients from every other brand. Just when you think you got it right! Ahhhhh!!
Assistant to 100 Days (Amy) says
Hi Miramim. Kind bars are a lot lower in sugar, if you are looking for an alternative. :)
Mark says
http://happyforks.com/browse?q=&d=269-1
On above link you see products high in sugar. There are junk food and also healthy food (dates). It's similar to fat and avocado.
Suzi says
I stay away from processed foods. Period. I do have treats now and again and I know the consequences - stiff joints in the morning! I've weaned myself from sweets by keeping a bar of premium extra dark chocolate in the house for my evening snack. I have about 3 sm squares and I'm perfectly happy.
laramealor.com says
I was not surprised of what was on the list, especially the kids cereal.
http://www.laramealor.com/12-unconventional-ways-keep-family-healthy-vacation/
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Kerry says
After watching Fed Up I am newly inspired to teach my students about sugar in our nutrition unit. Thanks for the fantastic visuals!
Nicole says
I just found your blog and love it. I'd like to subscribe, please!
Thanks
Vandana says
The Cliff Bar and Gatorade too. It always tastes salty to me.
Kim says
Check out milk. That was my biggest surprise !!
Cassie says
Milk has naturally occurring sugar, though, which is different from the added stuff, especially if you're getting raw milk. I don't know, though, does that count toward your amount of sugar for the day? Anyone know?
Cassandra says
No. I asked that, too. The key word is 'added' sugar. So, something has to be processed to have added sugar to it. Milk doesn't have added sugar. Regular yogurt - no, but fruity yogurt, yes.
Jay says
I think the real issue is high fructose corn syrup is the "sugar" in most processed food and drinks. It's affects the body differently and is worse for your system than cane sugar, maple syrup, honey etc
Lisa Lahey' says
I think it's a great idea for a post but everything you listed is a no-brainer. Why didn't you use examples of products that people don't expect to see sugar but it's there. Like most peanut butter, the breads you listed, pastas & sauces (including pizza). Those are my biggest irritants.
Pamela Torbet says
The only one that tripped me up was the fruit snacks. However, it has been years since I bought them for a group of children. We have my husband cancer free after fighting stage IV colon cancer. He had cancer all over his abdominal area and liver. It is a miracle from God that he is alive. He was a sugar junkie and and junk food junkie. It took a great deal of convincing even though he had this diagnosis. To readdress another previous post, supplements have been essential for both of us. Thanks Lisa for all you are doing in promoting real food! The alternative is killing people everyday, and they are clueless!!! Our ministry is helping others with all of info we have learned about healthy eating, supplements, and purely healthy living!