Sneaky sugar: We're eating too much, and we don't even know it

Americans may be heeding warnings to avoid sugary drinks, but many are still consuming way too much “added sugar” in their food, a new government report shows. And most of those sugary foods are being consumed at home rather than at restaurants, said study co-author Bethene Ervin, a nutritional epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Current government guidelines suggest that Americans limit total discretionary calories, including added sugars and solid fats, to 5 to 15 percent of food consumed per day. Ervin and her co-author Cynthia Ogden found that added sugars make up approximately 13 percent of the average American adult’s total intake. Ervin and Ogden found that adult consumption of added sugars declined with increasing income. So, while women in the lowest income category were consuming 15.7 percent of their calories as added sugars, those in the highest income category were consuming 11.6 percent of their calories as added sugars. The researchers found a similar trend for men. http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/01/17989684-sneaky-sugar-were-eating-too-much-and-we-dont-even-know-it