America’s Insatiable Sweet Tooth

By Jonathan Springston, Assistant Editor, AHC Media

Almost half of all U.S. adults and nearly two-thirds of American youth consumed at least one sugar-sweetened beverage, which includes soda, sports drinks, fruit juices, pre-sweetened coffee, and more, on a given day between 2011 and 2014, according to new data from the CDC released this week.

Among adults, 53.6% of men and 45.1% of women 20 years of age and older consumed at least one sugar-sweetened beverage per day. Men were more likely than women to consume two or more such beverages, and all Americans under the age of 39 were more likely in general to consume a sugary drink compared to those who are older.

Among Americans aged 2-19 years, more than 60% consumed at least one sweetened drink per day. Kids, generally, were likely to increase their intake as they increased in age. Boys were more likely to consume more sugary drinks as they got older than girls.

Since doctors connect sugar consumption to health maladies such as obesity and heart disease, current guidelines call on Americans not to allow added sugars to exceed 10% of their diet. Yet, these data indicate there’s no end in sight to America’s love affair with sugar. And when they try to break their soda habit, experts note Americans replace soda with alternatives that are just as unhealthy.

“Fruit drinks, sport drinks, energy drinks, and sweetened teas are just as closely linked to negative health outcomes like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease as soda,” Alyssa Moran, a registered dietitian and a doctoral candidate in nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told the American Heart Association. “Many of these beverages feature nutrient or ‘natural’ claims that can influence consumer perceptions about the healthfulness of the product.”

Meanwhile, there seems to be growing concern among healthcare professionals that sugar is much more dangerous, resulting in many more disturbing and far-reaching health issues, than originally believed.

For more on this subject and how to improve overall health and nutrition, be sure to check out Internal Medicine Alert and Integrative Medicine Alert.