Sugar. It can be the stuff of dreams for some people. It a basic chemical compound that seems to turn some people head over heals for more, but the realities of how much sugar North Americans consume can be pretty staggering.
Its common knowledge that things like energy drinks like and junk foods are high in sugars, but it’s the hidden sugars in things like bread, cereal, juices and even things like packaged meats or beef jerky that can have high amounts of sugars. Canadian law requires food manufacturers to label how much sugar is put into their products, but not how much added sugars are in them. It may seem like a benign difference, but added sugars are not required to be labeled. Added sugars are thing that we see all the time in the ingredients section; Glucose, Fructose, Sucrose and Corn syrups are amoung the most common ingredients.
“People are eating 20, 30 grams of sugar per day when we should be eating less then 10 (grams of sugar)” says Pamela Voisin, A Registered Dietitian with Dietitian London. Voisin says that if you want to drop your sugar intake, you should look to local foods “Stop eating processed foods as much as possible, start reading labels, and eat about 10 grams or less of sugar..if you can”
The Heart and Stoke Foundation foundation estimates that people who consume to much sugar could have up to a 30% more chance of suffering from a heart condition or stroke.
