Today's Tip: How Much Added Sugar Should You Have Daily??

If you didn't have a chance to read my last blog post, you might go back and read it along with today's since they go together well. :)

I wrote Today's Tip in answer to a question from my good friend Beth.  And she isn't alone in asking it - I get this type of question a lot!  What is an "acceptable" range of daily sugar intake for kids and adults?  Well, let's break that down a bit.

First let’s talk about added sugar – fruit juice, processed or packaged foods, cookies, treats, etc. Regular table sugar and high fructose corn syrup are two of the biggest culprits.  

Kids 4-8 – 3 tsp (12-13g) 
Preteens/teens – 5-8 tsp (21-34g)
Adult women - 6 tsp (25g)
Adult men - 9 tsp (38g)

Now naturally occurring sugar is another thing...it’s good - and necessary - for your body.  But for the record, fruits higher in natural sugar include dates, bananas, figs, persimmons, grapes, cherries and pomegranates. Dried fruits are pretty high in sugar so limit the craisins and raisins a bit.  All berries, melons (even watermelon!), grapefruit, oranges – all are lower in sugar and high in vitamins.

I'm not going to make a recommendation on how much natural sugar you should have. I'm not a fan of putting numbers out there for daily sugar grams, fat grams, calories, etc., since everyone's body is different and processes foods differently.  My recommendation is this: just like with high sugar foods, eat high sugar fruits in moderation. And remember...although some fruits are higher in natural sugar than others, even fruits very high in natural sugar are healthier than foods that contain refined sugar.

One more note: yes, many fruit juices are 100% juice and if you are going to drink juice, please pick those...and watch your serving size!  But whole fruits are better, no matter what percent juice is in the bottle.