Men: 37.5 grams
Women: 25 grams
We keep hearing and reading that not only adults consume a lot of sugar but that our children are becoming obese due to the amount of sugar they ingest each day. But how many grams of sugar in a day should you really consume?
The Current Situation
In the United States, the average person consumes around 71.14 grams of added sugar per day. And if you compare this value to the ones recommended, it is easy to see that we are really consuming a lot more sugar than we were supposed to be.
In case you don’t know, a gram of sugar contains around 4 calories. So, this means that many people consume nearly 270 calories a day just from added sugar alone.
One of the things that you need to keep in mind is that eating too much sugar isn’t good for your health. After all, it can increase the risk of many different health problems including tooth decay, liver disease, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and weight gain.
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How Many Grams Of Sugar In A Day – Recommended Sugar Limits
To ensure that you know how many grams of sugar in a day, it is important that you understand what discretionary calories are. This type of calories is the one that is left over as soon as you have met your daily nutritional needs.
So, if you consume calories from high-nutrient foods during the day, you can then use these extra calories on fatty foods and sugary.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), sugary foods shouldn’t represent more than half of your daily discretionary calorie allowance. As you can easily understand, this allowance varies depending on if you are a man, woman or a child.
Looking to convert kilograms to grams?
#1: For Men:
According to the AHA, men shouldn’t consume more than 150 discretionary calories of sugar each day. This represents 38 grams or 9 teaspoons of sugar a day.
#2: For Women:
According to the AHA, women shouldn’t consume more than 100 discretionary calories of sugar each day. This represents 25 grams or 6 teaspoons of sugar a day.
#3: For Children:
According to the AHA, children with ages between 2 and 8 years old shouldn’t consume more than 25 grams or 6 teaspoons of sugar a day.
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#4: For People With Diabetes:
As you know, diabetes is a medical condition that makes it difficult for your body to use glucose effectively. The truth is that your body converts both naturally occurring and added sugars into glucose. This is why people with diabetes must monitor closely their overall sugar intake.
However, here comes a problem. The reality is that some foods tend to affect blood glucose levels more than others depending on their GI (glycemic index). As you can easily understand, foods with a higher GI raise blood glucose more than foods with a lower GI.
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So, if you suffer from diabetes, you need to ensure that besides monitoring your sugar intake closely, you should also avoid added sugars. In addition, you should focus on consuming the right amounts of fiber and nutrient-dense carbohydrates from whole foods that can help stabilize blood sugar levels.