The Sweet Truth About Sugar (NAPSA)—It seems sugar has gotten a bad wrap. The majority of consumers wrongly think that a teaspoon of sugar has a whopping 70 calories, according to a study by The Sugar Association. The truth is that sugar has just 15 calories per teaspoon. — <= -_ a =>. That means people may not be saving as many calories as they think when they reach for a yellow, pink or blue packet of artificial sweetener. The obvious question is: How did we become so misinformed? Haveall the sugar-free products, artificial sweeteners, anti-sugar diets and sugar-buster books biased our perception? Browse a supermarket and you'll likely find sugar-free or reduced-sugar products in almost every category from jamsandjellies to ice cream, cookies, breads, salad dressings and cereals. But are they better for you? Recently, the Associated Press asked five nutrition scientists to evaluate newly introduced “reduced-sugar” kids’ cereals. The scientists found that the reducedsugar version of popular kids’ Food fact: A teaspoon of sugar has just 15 calories. added to the diet have been shown to promote a modest loss of weight... The prevalence of obesity has increased substan- tially at the same time as the consumption of nonnutritive sweeteners has increased.” Nutritionists say the best advice overall is to read nutrition labels and know what’s in your food. Low sugar doesn’t necessar- ily mean low calorie or better for you. Eat a healthy, balanced diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains cereals provided no reduction in and other fiber-rich foods, plus calcium-rich dairy products. And you can add sugar, with only 15 versions. The replacement ingre- many of those healthy foods calories or improved nutritional content over the regular sugar dients provided the necessary bulk and texture to the reduced- sugar cereals but offered no nutritional or caloric advantage. According to the American Dietetic Association (ADA) 2004 position paper on the use of nutritive and nonnutritive sweeteners, “Nonnutritive sweeteners calories per teaspoon, to make tastier. A bowl of fresh berries, homemade oatmeal or unsweetened yogurt tastes great with a sprinkling of brown sugar. Just because a food contains sugar does not makeit a food to avoid. For more information, visit www.sugar.org.
