January 7, 2016 — With January comes lots of diet advice.
And today comes the official advice from the U.S. government: The Obama administration has released its much-anticipated update to the Dietary Guidelines.
The guidelines, which are revised every five years, are based on evolving nutrition science and serve as the government’s official advice on what to eat.
One concrete change: Americans are being told to limit sugar to no more than 10 percent of daily calories.
As we’ve reported, lots of Americans consume up to 22 teaspoons a day. To meet the new 10 percent target, they’d need to cut their sugar intake by nearly half — to no more than 12 teaspoons a day on a 2,000-calorie daily diet.
These two muffins each contain 35 grams (about 8 teaspoons) of sugar. Add in a cup of sweetened blueberry Greek yogurt (18 grams, or about 4 teaspoons, of sugar) and you’ve got 22 teaspoons of sugar – the amount many Americans eat per day. Under the new Dietary Guidelines, we should eat no more than 10 percent of daily calories from sugar. On a 2,000-calorie daily diet, that’s about 12 teaspoons.
Over the past five years, a growing body of evidence has linked high levels of sugar consumption to an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, even among Americans who are not overweight or obese.
Much of the dietary advice included in the new guidelines will sound very familiar and remains unchanged from 2010. For instance, there’s a focus on consuming more fruits and vegetables, more fiber and whole grains, and less salt.
Read the full story and listen to the audio at NPR