Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Pour Some Sugar on Meeeeeeeeeeee.

(sorry for the Def Leppard reference).
The USDA has come up with a nice database detailing the added sugar content for about 2,000 foods. You can download it on PDF or as an Excel file.

We all inhale about 74 pounds of added sugar a year and most of our behinds look like it, too. Find out what they're putting in those drink powders like they serve at um...coffee places on a corner near you. It's on page 16 on the PDF -- 42 grams of added sugar for the mocha powder -- of course it's for 100 grams, or roughly 3 oz. But I'll bet that's in the range of what the commercial coffee places add for their iced mochas, and that's about 168 calories just in added sugar. You don't get any nutrients from it, but it will give you energy I suppose. Food for thought.

Just in case you aren't into metrics, there are roughly 28 grams in an ounce. The listings are in grams per 100 grams -- roughly grams for every 3 ounces. Every gram of carbohydrate (read: sugar) has 4 calories. (Protein has 4 also, fat has 9 calories per gram -- yeah, double).

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