~13 Percent of Total Calories Come From Added Sugars
Most of the calories from added sugars come from food, not beverages, and are consumed at home
FRIDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- For U.S., adults, about 13 percent of calories consumed are from added sugars, with the mean percentage decreasing as age and income increase, according to a May data brief issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
R. Bethene Ervin, Ph.D., R.D., and Cynthia L. Ogden, Ph.D., M.R.P., from the NCHS in Hyattsville, Md., reviewed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys to examine trends in consumption of added sugars among U.S. adults for 2005 to 2010.
According to the report, men and women consumed an average 12.7 and 13.2 percent, respectively, of their calories from added sugars. As age and income increased there was a decrease in the mean percentage of total calories from added sugars. Compared with non-Hispanic white and Mexican-American men and women, non-Hispanic black men and women consumed a larger percentage of their total calories from added sugars. More of the calories from added sugars came from food consumption rather than beverage intake. Most of the calories from added sugars were consumed at home.
"Approximately 13 percent of adults' total caloric intakes came from added sugars between 2005 and 2010," the authors write. "These results are still relatively high, given that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 recommendation is that no more than 5 to 15 percent of calories should come from solid fats and added sugars."