by Elizabeth Magee, LRD
Sip all day get decay!
I remember seeing this on a poster as a kid getting my teeth cleaned at the college where my mom taught dental hygiene. The statement stuck with me, but I never proactively listened to the message. These days I think I'm super funny saying it to my dental hygienist and dentist. I might not practice as well as I should, but at least I get it now.
If you still have no idea what I'm talking about, it’s drinking sugar-sweetened beverages all day long and how that increases risk of tooth decay. Fascinating right? Maybe not. But I still think it’s a funny, catchy saying.
Also, it helps me throw all those in the dental world under the bus right along with all of us dietitians. We aren't the only ones concerned about sugar and it’s not-so-sweet effects on our health. But gosh we do we eat a lot of it. Too much? Yes!
Are we eating too much fruit and that's where the sugar overload is? Or milk? I’m sure you're all very surprised to learn the answer is no. It's all those things that we don't need every day to have a healthy, balanced diet.
Sugar-sweetened beverages are a huge culprit. Desserts, candy, ice cream, and a lot of cereals are really up there too. Yogurt gets a bad rap, and I won’t argue that some are high in sugar, but I think it’s a better choice than a lot of things we are grabbing for quick snacks or breakfast, so I have a hard time throwing shade on yogurt. You can be observant of brands and choose one that has less sugar.
Can we cut sugar out? I hear people say all the time that they’re cutting out sugar and always wonder what they’re doing. Did they mean fruit too? I think it would be impossible to totally cut it out, and no one is asking you to. But cutting back would be a win for everyone.
Recommendations for women are no more than 100 calories per day (6 tsp/24 grams) and for men 150 calories (9 tsp/26 grams). For kids, keep it to 6 tsp (24 grams) per day and limit sugary beverages to 8 oz per week.
It takes a little work, nothing hard, but looking at food labels and an ingredient list can be very eye-opening. Sugar is added to so many things we wouldn’t think about. My friend just ordered soup at a restaurant and looked at the nutrition label after the fact and it had 35 grams of sugar. Soup!! What the heck? Also, when you look at ingredient lists, keep in mind sugar might have a fancy or different name. If you see honey, agave, syrup, invert sugar, evaporated cane juice – the list goes on – those are just other names for sugar.
Be a wise consumer, turn that package over and take a look at what’s inside. You might decide to swap it out for a brand or version with less sugar.
And if you’re looking for a healthy teeth hack for the sip-all-day thing, a straw can help 😊. But it might be better overall to rethink that drink!
Elizabeth Magee is a licensed registered dietitian. Her posts appear monthly on OYT.
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