Sugar is a sweet crystallizable material that consists wholly or essentially of sucrose, is colorless or white when pure tending to brown when less refined, is obtained commercially from sugarcane or sugar beet and less extensively from sorghum, maples, and palms, and is important as a source of dietary carbohydrate and as a sweetener and preservative of other foods.

The average American consumes more than 17 teaspoons of added sugar each day, according to the American Heart Association (AHA). That’s nearly double what most of us should eat. It adds about an extra 275 calories to our diet each day, and it contributes to increased rates of weight gain and obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. There are two types of sugar. There are natural sugars that occur normally in fruits, some vegetables, and milk, and then there are added sugars that are incorporated into food products to improve their taste or increase their shelf life. Natural sugars are not a concern. Added sugars are the ones we should avoid because they provide no nutritional benefit and contribute to weight gain and other health problems.

Added sugar can also be found in cereal, granola, yogurt, energy bars, baked goods, juice, salad dressings, sauces, ketchup, and even diet or fat-free foods. One 12-ounce can of soda contains 39 grams of added sugar, while a regular-sized Snickers candy bar contains 30 grams of added sugar.

Sugar has many names. Some of the most common names are high-fructose corn syrup, sucrose, brown sugar, cane juice, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit nectars, glucose, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses, and raw sugar. It is estimated that 75% of all packaged and frozen foods, other than frozen fruits and vegetables, contain some added sugars. Vegan and gluten-free products also contain added sugars, as may some products that are labeled as organic.

The origins of sugar in the U.S.

While chewing sugar cane for its sweet taste was likely done in prehistory, the first indications of the domestication of sugar cane were around 8000 BCE. The first roots of sugar cane to be planted in the New World were brought by Christopher Columbus to the Dominican Republic in the year 1493. In 1501 the first sugar cane field was put in production and in 1506 the first molasses was extracted. Sugarcane was first planted in New Orleans in 1751 by French Jesuit priests. After Étienne de Boré introduced sugar refining to Louisiana in 1795, sugarcane production in Louisiana expanded dramatically; sugar was grown on plantations using slave labor. By the 1840s, Louisiana produced between 25% and 50% of sugar consumed in the US but it was far from the World’s biggest producer, which was Cuba.

Sugar, the common name for sucrose, plays a vital role in so many foods and beverages that are part of nutritious, balanced and (not to be forgotten) enjoyable diets. In the U.S., that sugar comes from sugar beets and sugar cane plants grown on farms—and there’s an important reason why.

Many fruits, nuts and vegetables contain sucrose, with some containing as much as 10% sucrose! However, nothing tops sugar beets and sugar cane which contain about 16 and 14%, respectively, making them the most efficient way for farmers to grow and harvest sucrose.

Sugar beets are a root crop, and they flourish in cooler climates where the soil is rich and the growing season is about five months long. They’re much larger than the beets you might see in the produce section of the grocery store or the ones grown in backyard gardens, weighing a whopping 3–5 pounds when harvested. Sugar beet farms can be found in California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

Sugar cane is a perennial grass that is grown in more tropical climates. Perennial means it doesn’t need to be replanted every year. When sugar cane is harvested, it’s cut just above the root level so new sprouts will grow, ready to be harvested again in 10–12 months. The cane plants grow to be 10–20 feet high. Three U.S. states grow sugar cane: Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. As one of the leading sugar-producing countries, the United States produced approximately 8.4 million metric tons of sugar in 2022/23. The world’s sugar production amounted to about 177 million metric tons that year.

The average American consumes about 152 lbs of sugar each year, which is quite an increase from the 1970s statistic of 123 lbs per year. It is advised to consume 10% of our calories from sugar, yet the current average is about three times over the suggested daily amount. The typical American consumes more than twice the average sugar intake of the 54 countries studied. America must import about 3 million metric tons of sugar yearly to meet the demand for consumption. In 2019/2020, there was an all-time high amount imported at 3.38 million metric tons of sugar. The increase in sugar in our foods over the past decades is due to various reasons, such as preservation, caloric bulk, and flavor formation. Over time, these reasons for including sugar in products have become essential components in the processes developed to streamline and provide the most food for our growing population.

Why is the food industry putting sugar in everything?

Taste

Sweetness improves the palatability of many foods. Adding sugar to foods with high nutrient quality may increase the chance they are consumed. In addition, sugar plays an important role in contributing to the flavor profile of foods by interacting with other ingredients to enhance or lessen certain flavors.

Putting added sugar to yogurt makes it less sour. Adding sugar to peanut butter makes it spread easily and more creamy. Adding sugar to lemonade makes it less citrusy. It is a sad conclusion but most of the time you are not even tasting the real flavor of food because of the added sugars to it. Adding sugar to children’s food like breakfast cereal, flavored milk, orange juice, and apple puree makes it more palatable for children to eat and they will ask for more. Sugar plays an important role in consumers selecting brands that taste good, don’t have strong flavors, and seem healthy enough based on consistent marketing.

Color and flavor

The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned foods their desirable flavor, and caramelization is fundamental to the formation of color in several food products and can’t happen without the addition of sugar. Caramelization happens when sugar is heated to a certain temperature and is used in a wide variety of products including sauces, candies, breads, jams, and dessert wine.

For example, your standard store-bought gravy sauce is not really made from caramelized onions. The nice color is actually a result of burned caramelized sugar. This way it makes it cheaper for manufacturers of such brands to produce the sauce than to actually put some onions and effort into it. The sad fact is that food manufacturers will always come up with ways to produce their products cheaper, with less effort and more profits. Investing their money in creating marketing campaigns instead of perfecting the quality of their products.

Bulk and texture

Sugar is primarily used for its bulk and texture properties in sweets. In baked goods, sugar helps tenderize the products by competing with starches and proteins for any liquid in the recipe. This helps different baked goods in different ways, depending on how the sugar reacts to various ingredients. For example, in some types of dough, sugar traps small amounts of air inside which expands when they bake, making your baked goods less dense than if you had forgone the sugar. Sugar also affects the way ice crystals form in ice cream by causing the freezing point of the mixture to drop. This creates smaller ice crystals, giving frozen desserts a desirable, creamy quality. In candy, the way sugar crystallizes is primarily how the texture is determined. In soft candies, sugar crystallization is minimized and in hard candies, it is encouraged.

One functional property of sugar is preservation. Sugar is very good at absorbing water, which helps extend the shelf life of foods. Water is necessary for things like yeast and bacteria to flourish, so the more sugar something contains the longer is it able to hold off the offending growth. Sugar also helps preserve the color of foods like jams, jellies, and frozen fruits by protecting the fruit from air or absorbing extra water, which both discolor fruit.

Is sugar addictive?

You would think the sweet stuff would be easier to give up than a substance so strong, illegal, and altogether damaging. However, various data sources report that sugar is probably the most consumed addictive substance worldwide, and is often compared to cocaine due to its dramatic parallels and overlaps with drug-like effects. Studies show that roughly 75% of Americans overindulge in sugar. Further, a sizable portion of this percentage consumes so much in excess that it can be classified as an addiction.

Studies have identified various behavioral classifiers present in one with a sugar addiction (which mirror one with a drug addiction). A “sugar addict” can experience withdrawal, behavioral changes, and spouts of binging on large quantities of sugar. Further, sugar may be used as a coping mechanism due to emotional stress, as well as a source of soothing.

Sugar activates the same pleasure centers in the brain as cocaine and to an equally powerful extent. When an individual eats sugar (especially in large quantities), feel-good chemicals like dopamine and opioids are released, activating the “reward circuit” in the brain. This is similar to the way the brain reacts to the ingestion of substances like heroin and cocaine. Sugar triggers dopamine “hits” in the brain, making us crave more of it. Every time we eat sweets, we are reinforcing those neural pathways, causing the brain to become increasingly hardwired to crave sugar, building up a tolerance like any other drug. Many people claim that they feel compelled to eat sweet foods, similar in some ways to how an alcoholic might feel compelled to drink. Over time, greater amounts are required to reach that same feel-good state, just as drug addicts use more to chase their original high.

Reducing sugar intake has clear health benefits, including reduced calorie intake, which can help with weight loss, and improved dental health. However, people sometimes report experiencing negative side effects when they try to eat less sugar. Headaches, fatigue, or mood changes, which are usually temporary, are among the symptoms. The reason for these side effects is currently poorly understood. But it’s likely these symptoms relate to how the brain reacts when exposed to sugary foods – and the biology of “reward.

Sugar can have a powerful effect on us. So that’s why it’s not surprising to see negative effects when we eat less sugar or remove it from our diet completely. It’s during this early “sugar withdrawal” stage that both mental and physical symptoms have been reported – including depression, anxiety, brain fog, and cravings, alongside headaches, fatigue, and dizziness. This means giving up sugar can feel unpleasant, both mentally and physically, which may make it difficult for some to stick with the diet change.

Does U.S. food contain more sugar than other countries?

Historically, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tended to wait until an additive was flagged as dangerous before acting. By contrast, the E.U.’s equivalent, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), has always been more proactive. In 2011, the FDA brought in the Food Safety Modernization Act. These changes encourage them to get more involved in determining what should be off-limits. However, there’s a substantial loophole in FDA guidelines that food manufacturers can sneak through.

Compounds that are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) don’t need to go through the official approval process. This loophole was first created in 1958 so manufacturers didn’t have to seek approval for common ingredients like vinegar and vegetable oil. That makes sense, but over the years, this loophole has been stretched wide. The FDA relies on food manufacturers to inform them about GRAS ingredients. And food manufacturers aren’t necessarily keen on getting the FDA involved. Some experts estimate that there are around 1,000 of these largely untested ingredients in U.S. foods. And if they’re untested, no one knows what their health effects might be.

For instance, Fanta orange soda in the U.S. has about 44 calories per 100 milliliters. In the U.K., the same amount has 19 calories. In the U.S., there are 12 grams of sugar per 100 ml, while on the other side of the Atlantic, there are “only” around 5 g per 100 ml. That’s more than double the sugar in an already sugary drink.

A study from 2019 compared more than 600 of these products from five countries — New Zealand, Australia, the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. On average, the U.K.’s cereals had the least salt and sugar, and products in the U.S. had the most sugar. The U.S. also had the most products that contained at least 20% sugar. Worryingly, 18 of the 195 U.S. breakfast cereals tested — almost 1 in 10 products — were at least 50% sugar.

When you walk into a grocery store, there’s often a huge range of products. What isn’t immediately clear is that only a handful of giant companies own them. For instance, 93% of the sodas consumed in the U.S. and 73% of breakfast cereals are owned by just three companies. Lots of popular products mean large profits. And large profits enable food companies to spend big on lobbying.
Lobbying is when an individual or group tries to convince the government to support a particular campaign or policy. Lobbying serves an important role. But it means that food manufacturers with deep pockets who contribute to election campaigns have increased access to legislators. In short, lobbyists for food manufacturers try to limit legislation that might hurt their employers’ profits. And they push for legislation that might boost their bottom lines. The U.S. food industry has a particularly strong lobbying presence. And the fact that companies spend millions of dollars on lobbying each year means that it must work.