The American Heart Association tells us that with a healthy diet of natural foods, we don't need to add any sugar at all. But they recommend that we limit added sugar to six teaspoons a day for women, and nine for men. "Added sugar" doesn't mean we spoon it into foods ourselves; it means the sugar in all that processed stuff we consume. A 12-ounce can of soda contains about ten teaspoons of sugar, so that's over the recommended limit already. The average American consumes 17 teaspoons of added sugar every day!
Redditor Smacpats111111 made a visualization of the estimated added sugar per capita for each US state. The data came from a 2023 study citing estimates taken in 2010 and 2015. My home state of Kentucky comes in first, with an average of 21.2 teaspoons of added sugar per day! I'm not surprised, as this is where some people consider a two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew to be a single serving. But if you live in a state that is the darkest green on this map, don't let that make you feel superior. The residents of your state are still consuming about twice the recommended amount of added sugar. -via Digg