¶ The Impact of Added Sugar
Welcome back to the event . Our guest today will be speaking on all things sugar . You're going to learn how sugar is not the sweet thing that we thought it was when you say to the end .
Our presenter for this discussion is Dr Michael Garan , who is professor and vice chairman for research at the Department of Pediatrics and the Program Director for Nutrition and Obesity at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles at the Keck School of Medicine , usc .
His research on infant and childhood nutrition has been continuously funded by the NIH for 35 years and he has published over 400 peer-reviewed articles , so he really knows what he's talking about . Let's go ahead and jump on in . Hey , michael , thanks for joining us .
Sure , well , nice to see you .
Yeah , it's great to be back together again . I'm so excited about talking today . I wanted to give a shout out for your outstanding book called Sugar Proof and I was going to hold it up but I realized I don't have a copy anymore , and I think it's because I've been handing them out to everybody and that's a sign of a good book .
I'll send you some more copies if you like . I'll send you some more copies if you like .
It's a great book . It's written for lay people , but it has a scientific background to it too , so it's a wonderful book . I recommend it highly . Today we're going to talk about sugar , and you're an expert in that , so maybe let's just start off . What is sugar ? And , yeah , what is ?
sugar and why is it such a problem ? Sure , yeah , so we're . We're mainly talking here about added sugars , just to be straight . So so because sugar you know , there's over 250 names for different types of sugars and obviously there's natural sugars in fruit and natural sugars in milk . Those are kind of part of the natural makeup of dairy and fruits .
We're not talking about that , pretty much going to talk about the sugars added to food during processing . So that's added sugars and the evidence is pretty clear .
It can affect multiple parts of the body , starting early in life , and we're talking here about multiple effects on pretty much any organ of the body , not just on health and well-being , but also learning and mental health and cognitive ability as well .
So really , what we're finding is that kids are more susceptible to some of those effects and kids are obviously bombarded every day with exposure to these added sugars .
Now wait a minute with exposure to these added sugars . Now wait a minute . When I was growing up and full disclosure my mom was a dietician , so I got the latest at least nutritional advice . We were always told that sugar was . We knew sugar was bad for us because it added sugar , because it caused cavities in our teeth and maybe you gain weight .
But you're not saying that . You're saying that the problem is bigger as far as mental health and chronic disease . And what do you mean by that ?
well , just just by that , yeah , it's . You know the dental decay is . Is that something you can see , right ? So then it's much more visceral . Um , but there's lots of other hidden effects that aren't as obvious . There are maybe more slowly evolving . It might even be conditions that weren't of concern to your mother when she was raising you right .
So we have new problems emerging in kids , like type 2 diabetes , fatty liver disease , the . These weren't even problems when I started research in this area 30 years ago .
These are relatively new conditions that are beginning to become more apparent at a younger age and are hard to attribute directly to sugar because they're more subtle and you can't necessarily see the impact of sugars on the liver or on the pancreas or on the heart .
But we're learning more and more about how sugar impacts the development of almost every organ in the body .
Wow . So what is a good amount of sugar to have ? Ben , you're saying no added sugar , but what if I go out and eat a bunch of figs , or if I just binge on fruit or things that naturally have sugar in it ? Is that okay ?
Yeah , like I said , we're not really too concerned about the natural sugars in fruit . Dried fruit might be a little different because we tend to over consume it . So like nobody's going to go out and eat three whole apples , right , but you might have a handful of figs , which you mentioned , which is one of my favorite foods . Actually , I love dried figs .
I might eat that as a snack or use it as a sweetener in food . We're really talking about all the processed foods with added sugars . That is something to watch out for and the recommendations there are pretty clear to watch out for . And the recommendations there are pretty clear .
And the newest recommendation from the Dietary Guidelines for America is zero added sugars for infants , age zero to two years of age .
That's just in the last couple of years as a new recommendation , and then after two years of age it gradually increases towards what it is for adults , which is also a WHO recommendation , which is about 10% of calories , which computes to about 25 grams per day of added sugars grams per day of added sugars .
Wow . So back to what you mentioned about infants zero to two or zero added sugars for newborns . But aren't a lot of the baby formulas , don't they have sugar in them ?
Yeah , glad you asked that Very unfortunate ambiguity we have in the food system . So what's surprising ? You're exactly right . In fact , more than 50% of all infant formula is made with either corn syrup or sucrose , which is non-existent in breast milk . Either corn syrup or sucrose , which is non-existent in breast milk . I would call that an added sugar .
Would you call that an added sugar ? I would yes . The USDA and the government and the federal government makes formula exempt from being labeled as added sugar . So even though , on the one hand , they say infants should have zero added sugars , they're saying that formula can have added sugar .
It's really a big loophole , which is something that we're very concerned about , and what it comes down to is that there's very , very strict guidelines on what can and cannot go in infant formula .
Yeah , but what I can't believe is that , for example , we have vitamins and minerals with specified amounts , but there's no regulation on the carbohydrate content of formula . Isn't that amazing ?
Yeah , it is . Isn't that regulation on the infant formula that's for protection right , not of the infant , but for protection of the sugar manufacturers , the food manufacturers who are adulterating the formula with the added sugar , which you as an expert in sugar , and the recommendations are that infants should have zero sugar .
Yeah , and , like I said , it's not just me who's saying that . It's the USDA dietary guidelines from America themselves who have endorsed that view , but yet they're allowing food companies to make formula with corn syrup .
Wow .
And I can't really fathom that out . But what I've learned is that corn syrup , as a product or as an ingredient , is cheaper and easier to work with in food processing than lactose . Lactose , in case there's any doubt , lactose is practically the only carbohydrate in breast milk other than oligosaccharides , but lactose is an expensive ingredient .
But I think our infants deserve the nutrition that was meant to be , that's coming from breast milk .
Yeah , so instead of lactose , which is the natural form that's present in breast milk , we're seeing is corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup . Variations of corn syrup . My understanding corn syrup , of course , is ubiquitous in our junk foods . All our processed junk foods that make up most of what we eat today is is has a lot of corn syrup in it .
My understanding was uh correct me if I'm wrong that the corn syrup was used , one because it has a much longer shelf life than than conventional cane sugar , but two because of the subsidies from the federal government . Corn is subsidized to a greater extent than anything else , so it's actually cheaper than these .
So the corn syrup has found its way into everything just because of the cost factors and shelf life . Is that your understanding also ?
Yeah , that's right . Also , I don't know how this got started , but there's some misconception among parents . It's an idea also promoted by the formula industry that babies who are quote unquote fussy have lactose intolerance , which we know is not really a prevalent problem amongst babies .
But there's a consumer misunderstanding that their infants might be lactose intolerant , and so that's why formula companies that's one reason why they say they don't use lactose , because they're marketing it for babies who could be lactose intolerant , even though that's really not a problem in the population .
Which is also mind-boggling for me , because if I was lactose intolerant , I wouldn't put corn syrup in my cereal or in my coffee , right ? There's other ways to get around lactose intolerance , even if it's true there's better ways to deal with it than going straight to corn syrup .
Yeah , yeah . Well now looking at adults , this very conservative regulatory government , regulatory agency , which puts recommended limits on how much sugar we should eat , puts recommended limits on how much sugar we should eat For adults . They put a recommended limit of 25 grams correct ? Yes , how much is that ? Put that in perspective .
You know what types of foods would have 25 grams of sugar in them . How much is that ?
Well , in simple terms , that's a can of soda , pretty much , which is 20 to 25 grams . That's about 10 teaspoons Another way to kind of visualize it . So you know it can add up pretty quickly . An average slice of bread could have three or four grams of added sugar . Tablespoon of ketchup could have four or five grams of added sugar .
So it's in everyday items and can add up pretty quickly . Aside from the main contributors , which would be things like soda or juice , which is another weird paradox , because the USDA again doesn't count those as added sugars because it's fruit sugar .
But you know , if you have a glass of apple juice , that could easily be 20 , 25 grams of what I would call free sugar . It's sugar that's liberated from the whole fruit , so it's much more concentrated and in liquid form and it's that concentrated , liquid form of sugar that's most problematic for the body .
Yeah , I mean , some people recommend not to drink your calories and eat your fruit . Don't drink it , and to your point . You know we can eat one apple and it has all sorts of healthy fiber with it .
But if I drink a glass of apple juice , which is the equivalent of three or four or five apples that are all crushed together without any of the fiber , that can be very , very unhealthy . Why isn't this more well-known ? I mean , these are scientific societies that have these recommendations . I mean you're recommending them .
Um , why hasn't this reached the public awareness yet ? Why ? Why are we even having this conversation now ?
I don't know , it's , um , I think there's very , I think there's a strong , you know , the food lobby . It should not be underestimated and is very strong and is everywhere .
So , for example , just as example , we wrote an op-ed on this issue on formula , which is shocking to many people , and parents that I've spoken to Can't really get any bites from from from the main media organizations to publish such a thing . I think I don't know exactly why , but maybe they don't want to get embroiled in the discussion .
There's , you know , there's strong food lobby people who don't want this information released . So I don't know information released , so I don't know . We're trying our best to get the information out there and so that the population understands these issues . I think we can't underestimate the power and the activity of the food industry lobby .
That's not in their best interest to have this information broadly available .
Yeah , in your book you outlined many strategies for how individuals can become healthier by having less sugar . Maybe could you share just a couple of those in the last few minutes with our audience . Give them some advice .
Yeah , of course . So we already mentioned liquid sugar , which is the main source of added sugar . So sodas , juices , et cetera , and you know . But we still need strategies for how to how to implement that in real life . See , it's easy to say , oh , you shouldn't drink soda or juice , but how do you actually pull that off in your family ? So when ?
Um , one way is just to not bring it into the house , not make it available , not make it readily available Kids are going to get access to it outside of the house . You don't have control over that as much , but you do have control over what comes into the house . Breakfast is another big area , especially for kids .
Breakfast tends to be very high in sugars and low in nutritional quality , and we have a lot of strategies and tips in the book for working with breakfast . We know it's often a chaotic , fast meal .
That has to happen quickly , but it's is important for young kids and we have a lot of strategies on how to just just subtly tip the balance away from sugar and towards more protein and more fiber and more nutrient quality . So breakfast is important . And then hidden sugars is another one .
We started off talking about that at the beginning of the conversation , but I would encourage families to go to their pantries or check things out at the grocery store when you're about to buy it . It's tough because ingredient lists are so complicated there's over 250 names but check everyday items like your ketchups and peanut butters and yogurts .
Check everything , every processed food . There's definitely good options without added sugars and the added sugars from those processed foods can add up quickly . So those will be the three things . Liquid sugar don't bring it into the house . Breakfast . See if you can trade off sugar for more protein and fiber .
You don't need to put jam on toast or syrup on pancakes . There's other stuff and then look out for the hidden sugars .
Well , in addition to reading your book , how can people find out more about your work , say on social media or your website ? Could you share that with us now ?
Sure , the website is sugarproofkidscom and the book is available everywhere . Books are sold in all formats , and then our main social media outlet is on Instagram currently , which is sugarproofkids is the tag .
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¶ Essential Information on Added Sugar
. Well , thanks so much , Michael , for spending time with us today . This has been really informative and really opened my eyes a bit , and also thanks so much for all the great work you're doing .
And thank you . Thank you for doing this as well , for helping get the word out and sharing strategies for optimal health .
Thank you so much sharing strategies for optimal health . Thank you so much . Wow , a lot to process about sugars , added sugars and the recommendations and the harm that they can cause . I want to thank Dr Michael Garan for joining us today and sharing his amazing knowledge .
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