Dr. Travis Stork: Lauren is here to get that question answered and I think that the number may be different if you work in a chocolate store.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: Oh my gosh! It’s like temptation of the war.

Dr. Travis Stork: Get this though pay attention to this number 8-teaspoons of sugar a day.

Lauren: Really.

Dr. Travis Stork: Is the maximum of what you should have and let me ask you this; what do you think the average American how much added sugar?

Lauren: Well, I know I eat a lot more than that, so I’d guess the average person maybe twice that, 16?

Dr. Travis Stork: 30-teaspoons of added sugar. This isn’t naturally occurring sugar, that’s added sugar. Each person in here eats the average amount of added sugar that’s 97 pounds of added sugar every year.

Dr. Jim Sears: Wow!

Dr. Travis Stork: So let’s take everyone in the audience what does that mean for everyone? It means in a year you all could eat this much excess sugar. 15,520 pounds Lauren, of excess sugar, but you don’t need to be a sugar addict to reach these astounding numbers.

Dr. Jim Sears: Oh yeah, even if you’re think you’re eating pretty healthy sugar can creep into your diet. Look at this, this is kind of a pretty typical breakfast, but this cereal here actually has, you know, it looks like a pretty healthy cereal, no colors, no marshmallows, it’s actually whole grain, but this actually has 17 grams of sugar per serving which actually is a lot more than a lot of kiddy cereals with all the marshmallows and stuff. And then if you add the banana and the orange juice that’s adds up to about 34 grams of sugar just at breakfast so you’re already over the limit.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: Right. And this looks like a great salad, you know, if I go out with my girlfriends, we will always be ordering like, you know, a salad with chicken on it. This is great by itself that’s only 2 grams of sugar, but once you add this type of salad dressing and then sweetened as sweetened drink like the sweetened green tea then you get up to 74 grams of sugar.

Dr. Travis Stork: So the culprit there is really that sweetened green tea and this meal is what I love for dinner. This is actually whole wheat pasta with tomato basil sauce; a tremendously healthy dinner, right? But keep in mind the sauce has 12 grams of sugar per serving. So then when you add the yogurt with the fake fresh fruit in it that’s an additional 31 grams of sugar. We’ve supposed to have 32 grams of sugar per day added that alone right there will put you at your limit. So take all these meals together 150 grams of added sugars, five times the recommended daily amount. And these are healthy meals it’s just where you make smart decisions, is enough sugar, and the cereal, the banana like you may want to be careful on the OJ. Right Jim?

Dr. Jim Sears: Yeah, maybe take out the OJ, try to add a little protein that kind of helps balance out the sugar intake.

Dr. Andrew Ordon: Every little bit helps. The problem is where does all this sugar go? Well, typically it goes to the belly so-called belly fat right? Two kinds of belly fat; Subcutaneous fat, that’s a kind of fat I can suck out, but you’d rather not come see me in the office. The fat that worries us is the so-called intra-abdominal fat that is inside the so-called beer belly that sticks out, protrudes, typically that’s associated with the intake of a lot of sugars.

Dr. Travis Stork: So Lauren, stick to the dark chocolate. The more dark chocolate over 70% of cocoa go less added fats and sugars. And in moderation dark chocolate can be good for you.

Dr. Lisa Masterson: That’s right.

Dr. Travis Stork: Enjoy the chocolate store and don’t rub it in too much, because we’re all little jealous. Thank you so much.