Sugar Consumption in American Diet

Sugar Consumption in American Diet
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Sugar Consumption in American Diet
Consumption of sugars from various foods and drinks is raising worrying concerns globally. The increasing attention to sugar overconsumption emerges from the fact that sugar is an independent risk factor in cardiovascular diseases as well diabetes mellitus, hypertension, liver cirrhosis, and dementia, which are overarchingly associated with metabolic perturbations which may feature dyslipidemia and insulin resistance (Schmidt, 2014). The health effects of sugar emanate from increasingly high rates of added sugar that account for overconsumption amongst American citizens. The “added sugar overconsumption,” means excess sugars that are added to foods during processing, which exceed the dietary recommendations advanced by experts (Schmidt, 2014).
Besides the excess added sugar in foods during processing, another reason that explains the increased intake of sugars amongst Americans is addiction. Sugar is quite addictive. Available evidence shows that sugar reduction is challenging due to the addictive-like properties of sugar (Rodda et al.2020). Its addictive properties are comparable to those of caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco. The addiction-like properties of sugars are characterized by cravings and frequent eating of sugar food and drinks despite knowledge of the consequences (Rodda et al.2020).
The lack of regulation regarding sugars is another factor that accounts for the increased use of sugars amongst Americans. Unlike alcohol and tobacco, sugar is arguably unregulated....