1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:09,440 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff. 2 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: This is Christian Seger. So we recently went to the 3 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: house Stuff Works kitchen and we looked at the nutrition 4 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:17,960 Speaker 1: facts label on some of the food there. We looked 5 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: at cherry coke, for instance, it has forty two grams 6 00:00:20,840 --> 00:00:23,439 Speaker 1: of sugar. Then we looked at Mountain dew and it 7 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:27,680 Speaker 1: had forty six grams in a can. Okay, Well, something 8 00:00:27,840 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: that's always bothered me is how there isn't a percent 9 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,640 Speaker 1: daily value listed for sugar. For instance, thirty nine grams 10 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: of sugar and a can of coke seems like a lot, 11 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:42,320 Speaker 1: but is it? On Mayen, the Food and Drug Administration 12 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:47,320 Speaker 1: introduced an updated Nutrition Facts label, which they said reflected 13 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: new scientific information, and among the changes were updated serving sizes, 14 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:57,880 Speaker 1: calories in a way bigger font, and an entirely new 15 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: line for added sugars that also includes a percent daily value. 16 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: But let's back up, why does it matter how much 17 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:11,319 Speaker 1: sugar a person consumes? Well, Sugar, whether it's natural or added, 18 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:16,400 Speaker 1: is a type of carbohydrate that our bodies used for energy. Fruits, vegetables, 19 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: and dairy foods can naturally contain sugar. But the FDA 20 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:24,399 Speaker 1: defines added sugars as those that are either added during 21 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: the processing of foods, sugars from syrups and honey, and 22 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,360 Speaker 1: sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices that are in 23 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,759 Speaker 1: excess of what would be expected from the same volume 24 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: of one fruit or vegetable juice of the same type. 25 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:45,040 Speaker 1: That that that last bit was a little bit long anyways. 26 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,040 Speaker 1: A food science expert we talked to named Marion Nestley 27 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:51,720 Speaker 1: from New York University explains why added sugars can be 28 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:56,840 Speaker 1: harmful and they dilute the nutritional quality of whatever they're 29 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 1: added to. They give you calories, but they don't give 30 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,280 Speaker 1: you any additional nutrients. The f d A recommends limiting 31 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,160 Speaker 1: added sugar intake to no more than ten percent of 32 00:02:07,200 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: a person's total daily calories. For adults, this equals about 33 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:15,679 Speaker 1: fifty grams or twelve point five teaspoons of sugar per day, 34 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: in other words, a little more than a can of 35 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 1: mountain dew. The World Health Organization recommends even less, just 36 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:27,120 Speaker 1: five percent of a person's daily calories, which equal about 37 00:02:27,160 --> 00:02:31,120 Speaker 1: twenty five grams or six teaspoons per day, or one 38 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:34,919 Speaker 1: package of peanut M and M's Now, for reference, the 39 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:39,360 Speaker 1: average American adult consumes seventy five grams of added sugar 40 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 1: per day, or about nineteen teaspoons. So where does all 41 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: this added sugar come from? If your first answer is soda, 42 00:02:47,360 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: you might be surprised to know that American soda consumption 43 00:02:50,560 --> 00:02:54,040 Speaker 1: has steadily decreased in the past fifteen years or so. 44 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: The truth is that sugar can be found in just 45 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: about everything we eat and drink, but it's often disguised 46 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: under other names like glucose, fructoast, malttoast, dextros basically anything 47 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: that ends with oas cane juice, cane syrup, high fructoast, 48 00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,760 Speaker 1: corn syrup, cane sugar, corn sweetener, molasses, malt syrup, invert sugar, 49 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:21,679 Speaker 1: or fruit juice concentrates. Okay, that was another long one. 50 00:03:22,639 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: Manufacturers list them in this way to break up the 51 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: amount and make it appear like there's less overall sugar 52 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:32,000 Speaker 1: in a product, and that's one of the reasons the 53 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 1: f d A is updating the nutrition label so consumers 54 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: are aware of how much added sugar is in their food. 55 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: If you're going to be eating helpfully, you want to 56 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: keep the amount of sugar down, not just for reasons 57 00:03:44,560 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: of nutrients, but also because there's so much evidence that 58 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 1: people who eat a lot of sugar have a higher 59 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: risk for obesity, type two diabetes, heart disease, and so forth. 60 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:58,120 Speaker 1: If that's the case, why hasn't the public been better 61 00:03:58,160 --> 00:04:01,720 Speaker 1: informed to answer that? We need to go back in time, 62 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: and we're going to talk to Christina Kerns, a post 63 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: doctoral fellow at the University of California in San Francisco. 64 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,080 Speaker 1: The nineteen sixties, a lot of attention in the scientific 65 00:04:12,120 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: community was directed to trying to understand the dietary factors 66 00:04:16,080 --> 00:04:18,719 Speaker 1: in the American diet and how they might be linked 67 00:04:18,720 --> 00:04:22,400 Speaker 1: to coronary heart disease. American men were dying of coronary 68 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 1: heart disease at higher rates than other countries, and so 69 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: we thought our specific American diet might have something to 70 00:04:28,839 --> 00:04:32,240 Speaker 1: do with that. Kurns, along with co authors Laura Schmidt 71 00:04:32,240 --> 00:04:36,400 Speaker 1: and stand Glance, recently published a paper in jama Internal 72 00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 1: Medicine revealing that the sugar industry sponsored research that purposefully 73 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:45,120 Speaker 1: singled out fat as the dietary cause of heart disease, 74 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: while downplaying the evidence that sugar consumption was a factor. 75 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: As more evidence began to link sucross consumption to coronary 76 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:57,599 Speaker 1: heart disease. The sugar industry got involved with the research 77 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 1: themselves in an attempt to discredit some of the evidence, 78 00:05:02,279 --> 00:05:07,240 Speaker 1: and I believe direct attention away from that research onto 79 00:05:07,880 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: the research linking fat to coronary heart disease. Founded in 80 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,400 Speaker 1: nineteen forty three by members of the U S sugar industry, 81 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:18,880 Speaker 1: the Sugar Research Foundation was dedicated to communicating and supporting 82 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,800 Speaker 1: sugar's dietary role to the public. It later evolved into 83 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:27,080 Speaker 1: what is currently called the Sugar Association. The documents that 84 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:29,839 Speaker 1: we have, the industry is certainly talking about how to 85 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:34,280 Speaker 1: protect market share, so the Sugar Research Foundation was created 86 00:05:34,360 --> 00:05:38,839 Speaker 1: to protect sales. Now, industry sponsored research is nothing new, 87 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: but the effects of the Sugar Research Foundation's manipulation were 88 00:05:43,240 --> 00:05:46,560 Speaker 1: far reaching. When the US government first published their dietary 89 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:51,480 Speaker 1: guidelines for Americans in night, they recommended avoiding too much fat, 90 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:55,599 Speaker 1: saturated fat, and cholesterol, which they linked to a greater 91 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: chance of having a heart attack. They did recommend limiting 92 00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:02,679 Speaker 1: sugar intake, but only because it could cause tooth decay. 93 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: Even today, go walk into any grocery store and look 94 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 1: at the so called healthy products. They usually advertise themselves 95 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 1: as being low fat or low cholesterol, but they say 96 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:17,239 Speaker 1: almost nothing about their sugar content. After the GM article 97 00:06:17,320 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: came out, the Sugar Association released a statement in which 98 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 1: they said, we acknowledge that the Sugar Research Foundation should 99 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,680 Speaker 1: have exercised greater transparency in all of its research activities. However, 100 00:06:29,920 --> 00:06:33,240 Speaker 1: when the studies in question were published, funding disclosures and 101 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:36,840 Speaker 1: transparency standards were not the norm they are today. I 102 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,320 Speaker 1: think it was interesting that they sort of acknowledged that 103 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: they should have been more transparent. Actually didn't expect them 104 00:06:42,160 --> 00:06:45,359 Speaker 1: to to say that. However, you know that that doesn't 105 00:06:45,480 --> 00:06:49,920 Speaker 1: exonerate the industry from from their actions. Despite the manipulation 106 00:06:49,920 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: by the Sugar Research Foundation, whether added sugar contributes to 107 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:58,119 Speaker 1: coronary heart disease is still hotly debated. What you have 108 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 1: is an enormous amount of evidence from correlation and association 109 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,040 Speaker 1: that people who eat diets that are high in sugar 110 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,680 Speaker 1: tend to have a greater risk for obesity, types of diabetes, 111 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:14,280 Speaker 1: and heart disease. The best thing that you can do 112 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:17,240 Speaker 1: look at the labels, know what's in your food and 113 00:07:17,320 --> 00:07:20,000 Speaker 1: how much, And if you're worried about added sugar. A 114 00:07:20,120 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: simple solution is just to avoid prepackaged food by fresh 115 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:28,880 Speaker 1: ingredients and cook them yourself. That way, you know exactly 116 00:07:29,040 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: what's going into the food you eat. So if you're 117 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:35,280 Speaker 1: wondering why you haven't seen the new nutrition Facts label yet, 118 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: it's because manufacturers have until July to comply with the changes, 119 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: and if a manufacturer makes less than ten million dollars 120 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: a year in annual food sales, they'll have another year 121 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:54,360 Speaker 1: to make this change. Check out the brain stuff channel 122 00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:56,480 Speaker 1: on YouTube, and for more on this and thousands of 123 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.