Q: I am trying to reduce my sugar intake. I eat pretty healthy, and have tried to use Splenda in my morning cappuccino…but I hate the taste! I use light brown sugar (1 loose tbsp.) along with about 1/2 cup of 1% organic milk. I normally have some breakfast about 1-2 hours after my coffee. I really don’t want to use sugar substitutes. Does it matter that much? Amy in Florida

A: Amy, Sugar consumption only matters if you are the typical American consuming 150 pounds of added sugars each year, and/or you are overweight. Most people have no idea how much sugar they consume, since most of the sugar is added for us before the food ever gets into the house. The scant amount of sugar you are adding to one cup of coffee in the morning is nothing. It is the tablespoons of sugar in almost any food that comes in a box, bag, carton, or wrapper. For example, there are up to 8 teaspoons of sugar in fruited yogurts, up to 7 teaspoons of sugar in some frozen entrees, and almost 4 teaspoons of sugar in a half cup of canned baked beans. Read labels – there are 4 grams of sugar in a teaspoon. You can start removing sugar by just not buying anything that has more than a gram or two of added sugar.

Splenda is completely safe. 20 years of safety studies lead to it being approved in Canada in 1991 and in the US in 1998. It is used and approved for use in 80 countries. Its safety ratings are so high that FDA does not even require any warnings on the label. It has been approved for safety for pregnant and nursing women, children, and people of all ages.

Sucralose is made by removing 3 hydrogens from the sugar molecule and replacing them with chloride, an element found naturally in table salt, mushrooms, peas, potatoes, etc.. The molecule is extremely stable and does not breakdown. 85% is excreted from the GI tract unchanged. The other 15% is absorbed, but because it is water-soluble, it is not stored and instead is excreted in the urine unchanged within 24 hours. No chloride leaves the molecule from the time you consume it to the time your body excretes it. Also, because it is 600 times sweeter than sugar, the amount you consume is miniscule (most of the power in each packet is maltodextrin and dextrin…the Splenda part is so tiny it hardly makes up any part of the contents).

The statements that the chloride in Splenda is harmful are internet rumors with no sound scientific backing. If you have any other questions about this sugar substitute, go to www.Splendatruth.com Hope that helps clarify the issue.

1. Why are our kids drinking so much soda pop?
Soda is everywhere. More than 2.8 million vending machines spew out more than 27 billion soft drinks a year at video stores, gas stations, schools, and more. They are cheap drinks in fast-foods restaurants, movie theaters, virtually everywhere. They’re sold in 60% of public schools. Some school districts even receive money from soda pop companies to sell certain pops exclusively in their vending machines. And our kids are being bombarded with the best and most clever advertising in the world. While pop manufacturers spent $549 million advertising pop last year, the National Cancer Institute spends less than $1 million encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables. It’s no wonder our kids are drinking pop and leaving their broccoli on the plate.

2. How many soft drinks are our kids drinking today?
Manufacturers pumped out 15 billion gallons of soda pop last year, or 54 gallons for every man, woman, and child – that’s more than 19 ounces a day. This is twice as much as we consumed back in the 1970s. While this averages about 1 ½ cans per person per day, many of us aren’t drinking any at all, while our children are drinking more than their share. According to USDA, American children between the ages of 12 and 19 consume about a half quart of pop a day or 3.5 quarts a week.

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Q: Is honey better for me than regular sugar?
– Kim in Brooklyn

A: Don’t be lead astray by sweet misconceptions. All sugars, with the exception of blackstrap molasses, are nutritional wastelands. Granted, honey has minuscule amounts of some minerals, but not enough to make a dent in a person’s daily needs. For example, it takes 11 cups of honey to supply a woman’s daily need for iron; it would take 19 cups of honey to supply the calcium in one cup of nonfat milk. Honey also has been touted as an alternative to sugar for weight loss and diabetes.

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Q: I’m hearing that sugar is bad for me and will cause weight gain and diabetes. Is this true?
– Lana from Rochester

A: How come refined sugar is bad for you? Sugar is not poison. In small doses, it’s not even bad for you. The problem is each of us is averaging 158 pounds of refined sugar a year, more than humans have ever eaten in the entire history of our species. If you include artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame, per capita daily consumption tops 50 teaspoons. The biggest culprits are soft drinks and sweets, but sugar also is added to most processed foods, from fruited yogurt to baked beans. Back to your question on whether all that sugar is bad for us. The only proven harm posed by too much sugar is tooth decay. (Dental caries and periodontal disease have skyrocketed since people began bathing their teeth in a constant supply of sugar.) Granted, many researchers suspect a sugar-laden diet is a culprit in the development and progression of heart disease, depression and mood swings, lethargy, hypoglycemia, diabetes, kidney disease, colon cancer, gallstones, obesity, and ulcers. However, without a consistent trend in the research, no verdict has been reached. If not a convicted villain, sugar is an accomplice to many health problems, since it either replaces nutritious foods or adds unwanted calories. Let’s face it. Every time you reach for a sugar-laden processed food, you’re missing the opportunity to reach for a chin-dribbling strawberry, crunchy carrot, bowl of split pea soup, or whole grain cereal, the types of foods in which our diets are sorely lacking. Or, eat well and add all that sugar and now you’ve got a weight problem. The bottom line? Most of us should cut our sugar intake in half. So… o Avoid sticky, sweet foods, such as processed fruit bars, candy, and caramel, since they are the worst offenders of tooth decay. o Limit soft drinks to no more than one serving every other day. o Cut way back on sweets. o Read labels. A food is too sweet if sugar is one of the first three ingredients or if the list includes several sources of sugar. o Use more spices. Cinnamon, vanilla, spearmint and anise provide a sweet taste to foods without adding sugar or calories. -Elizabeth Somer