Not So Sweet: The Average American Consumes 150-170 Pounds of Sugar Every Year

Tilting the sugar flakes

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that the The average American consumes anywhere between 150 to 170 pounds of simple sugars, also known as refined sugars (this includes glucose, fructose, and sucrose) or simple carbohydrates, in one year!

You may be thinking, “I don’t use that much.” Well, it is also said that for every American who eats just 5 pounds of sugar per year, there is one who eats about 295 pounds per year. That is to say MUCH of sugar, especially when compared to the amount we used to consume in the past. Less than 100 years ago, the average sugar intake was only about 4 pounds per person per year.

Can’t understand the amount of sugar from 150 to 170 pounds? Here’s a picture: Imagine 30 to 34 five-pound bags of sugar lined up side by side on a counter. Now imagine a person, perhaps yourself, eating all that sugar. To break it down even further, eating 150 to 170 pounds of sugar in a year is also equivalent to consuming 1/4 to 1/2 pounds of sugar. every day. Don’t you think that consuming this amount of sugar is easy to achieve? Think again … here are some more numbers:

Sugar, soda and math

There are 120 teaspoons in a pound of sugar. This means that 1/4 pound of sugar equals 30 teaspoons and 1/2 pound of sugar equals 60 teaspoons. An average 12-ounce can of soda contains about 8 ounces of simple sugar. This means that just four 12-ounce cans of soda is equal to 1/4 pound of sugar! For some people, drinking this amount of soda in a day is not a difficult task to accomplish.

This calculates only the amount of sugar that is in soda. Just think about him other sources of sugar in our diet. Americans consume refined sugars in numerous forms (there are the obvious culprits for sugar): donuts, cookies, cakes, and ice cream. However, sugar is hidden in much of what we consume each day. Sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup can also be found in salad dressings, breads, hot dogs, peanut butter, pickles, canned fruits and vegetables, ketchup, canned soups, crackers, cookies, and various other food products. .

It is not just a drug, it is also a poison

Some classify refined sugar as a drug or poison because it lacks vital forces, proteins, minerals, and vitamins. Too much can be harmful to the body and cause illness. We’ve all heard the dangers of consuming too much sugar in our diets: it can lead to organ malfunction and hormonal disruption. When these systems are disrupted and unbalanced, various other pathological conditions manifest: allergies, obesity, degenerative / organ diseases, diabetes, depression, behavior problems, etc.

If you get sick multiple times throughout the year, you may want to test your sugar intake.

How is sugar consumption related to being sick? Consuming too much sugar depresses your body’s immunity. Studies have shown that consuming 75 to 100 grams of simple sugars (about 20 teaspoons of sugar, the amount found in two and a half 12-ounce cans of soda) can significantly suppress the body’s immune responses. These sugars are known to create a 40% to 50% decrease in the ability of white blood cells to kill bacteria and germs within the body. The immunosuppressive effect of sugar begins less than thirty minutes after ingestion and can last five hours. By consuming 150 to 170 pounds of simple sugars each year, a person can have up to 80,000 hours of immunosuppression!

Given that the average American consumes between 150 and 170 pounds of sugar a year, I am not surprised to learn that about 60% of the US population is overweight or obese. Obviously, there are other factors that influence this statistic, but I’m pretty sure our sugar intake has a lot to do with it. I don’t know about you, but to me, it makes sugar sound “not so sweet” after all …

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Category: Health Fitness