What You Should Know About Sugar

Did you know that approximately 20 percent of our calories come from sugar alone? White sugar, in particular—the type that you generally add to your cup of coffee in the morning or that you use when baking a pie—is virtually devoid of any key vitamins and minerals. Sugar contains 16 calories per teaspoon and has no B vitamins, chromium, magnesium, zinc, or any other trace elements necessary to metabolize it. As a result, the sugar in your sugar jar essentially robs your body of beneficial nutrients from healthy foods that you might be eating. To fully metabolize sugar, your body has to take B vitamins and other trace minerals from healthy grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables instead of being utilized for more efficient and important purposes such as fighting infections, warding off allergies, and preventing cancer or heart disease.

Be sure to read labels. Sugar is everywhere: in sodas, cake, pie, ice cream, donuts, candy, chocolate, breakfast cereals, breads, ketchup, and even salad dressings. And it may be disguised with an alias such as corn syrup, corn starch, or high fructose corn syrup.