Eat Way Less Added Sugar: Heart Docs

Americans eat more than twice as much added sugar as doctors recommend, and they should cut back to battle obesity, hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease, researchers say. Added calories from processed sugar should total no more than 150 for men and 100 for women, the American Heart Association said today. Soft drinks are the top factor in added dietary sugar, and the recommendations are sure to rile their producers, Reuters reports.

"For the first time we've created specific recommendations about the amount of sugars that can be consumed in a heart-healthy diet," says the lead author of the report. A sugar industry group criticized the research, saying "very few of the cited references by the AHA are directly related to sugars and heart health impacts."
(More sugar stories.)