Question (Jul 8, 2011 at 10:11am)

Jul. 8, 2011 at 10:11am

Joe, after my angioplasty two years ago at age 50, I began using "The Road to a Healthy Heart" as one of my main dietary references. Many thanks for this book.rnrnI have a question about sugar. The general rule is "minimize added sugars", but some foods, especially fruits and juices, have a lot of "natural" sugar in them. Do I need to be just as concerned about orange juice and honey as I do about high fructose corn syrup or beet sugar? The nutrition labels often don't give us enough information to tell the difference.

Posted in Questions by Anonymous

Comments (1)

You ask a very good question. The reason that I counsel to "minimize added sugars" is that there is no recommended daily level as there is with sodium (1,500 milligrams.) If sugar comes as a natural part of the food - as in berries, for example - I'm not concerned. That's because you'd have to eat a lot of berries to take in too much sugar.

Fruits turned into juice are an exception. That's because instead of eating a whole orange, you drink the equivalent of 2 or 3 oranges...and the sugar from 2 or 3 oranges. So, I limit myself to a small glass of orange juice but try to eat the whole fruit more often.

Wit regards to refined sugars, they are all the same - white, brown, turbinado, honey, molasses. Actually, high fructose corn syrup also falls in this category, but because it is a liquid, food manufacturers can put more of it into a food product.

I always read food labels to check on sugar content. Remember, 4 grams of sugar equals a teaspoon; 3 teaspoons equals a tablespoon. So the next time to read a yogurt label to find that it contains 24 grams of sugar, realize that's 6 teaspoons of sugar (or 3 tablespoons!) Hope this is helpful.
1 | Left by Anon | Jul. 12, 2011 at 4:02pm

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