Sugar, Sugar, Sugar and More Sugar

Do you know how much sugar your child eats?
Chances are it's a lot more than you think. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich (whole-wheat bread), a cup of applesauce and a fruit punch will provide your child with plenty of nutrients, but she is getting also a whopping 76 grams of sugar. That's 16 teaspoons of sugar, even more than what is in four Twinkies.

An Adult on a 2000 calorie-a-day diet shouldn't eat more than 40 grams of added sugar. Yet your child will eat twice that in this meal. Now factor in the syrup on her morning waffles, the soda she'll drink after school and the graham crackers she'll munch on before bed. Most parents are not aware of the fact that sugar or sugar substitutes are added to even healthy foods.

The average child under 12 consumes 49 pounds of sugar per year according to the USDA Economic Research Service. A 30-something-year old adult's intake is actually lower (46 pounds). That means your child is gobbling up more sugar than you are, even though her body may be less than half the size of yours.

Eating too much sugar can make children gain weight, which puts them at greater risk for diabetes, high blood pressure,and high cholesterol -- three major contributors to heart disease.

Unlike the "fats" portion of the nutrition-facts label (which is broken down into saturated, unsaturated and more), the FDA doesn't require manufacturers to reveal how much sugar is added and how much is natural.

So it's up to you to check the ingredients list. To find added sugar, look for corn syrup or sweetener dextrose, honey, or molasses to name a few. And remember. The more processed an item is, the more likely it contains added sugar.

Here are some more tips:

-- Don't be fooled by food labels.
Keep in mind that four grams of sugar is about one teaspoon.

-- Think small.
When you dish out desserts put it in teacups, not soup bowls.

-- Teach your child to be choosy.
Let your child have a treat, but only one per day. Good advice for grown-ups too.

-- Avoid processed foods.
For example, one packet of maple and brown sugar flavored oatmeal has 13 grams of sugar. You can add these ingredients to regular oatmeal yourself (which has no sugar) using half the sweetener.

-- Make compromises.
Banning sugary cereal will just make your child want it more. Let him have it, but only if he mixes it with a wholegrain one with no added sugars.

-- Skip the soda.
Get a bottle of seltzer and add some juice. Six ounces of seltzer plus two ounces of orange juice contains about six grams of sugar, versus 35 grams in a can of orange soda.

Resource: Parents Magazine, July 2007 Issue

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