Healthy Eating with Jhet

FDA – RDA 40g Sugar?

I’ve been trying to figure out where people online have been coming up with this "less than 40g of sugar RDA" that I keep reading about. And I think I have finally found out what they were talking about.

It wasn’t the Food and Drug Administration that was suggesting 40g or less of sugar, it was the Department of Agriculture and some other health experts.

"In petitioning for labeling changes regarding sugar, CSPI, joined by dozens of leading health experts, also wants the FDA to set a maximum recommended daily intake (Daily Value) for added sugars of 10 teaspoons (40 grams) and require labels to disclose the percentage of the Daily Value a food provides."

I also found out that they were not talking about natural sugars in products. They were talking about added sugars.  As an example, an apple has 19g of sugar but would have zero added sugar. On the other hand a can of pop has about 41g of sugar but all of it is added sugar. So with 1 can of pop you are over your suggested RDA of added sugar.

The problem is that I I have not yet found a food label that distinguishes between added sugar  and naturally occuring sugar.

Q: How much sugar is in a slightly heaping teaspoon?

A: About 7.5 grams. There are 4 grams in a non-heaping teaspoon and 12.5 grams of sugar in a tablespoon.