Sweet Sabotage

I recently went to lunch with my friend, Claire. As we ordered our sandwiches, she grabbed a Pepsi from the cooler and sheepishly put it on the counter whispering, “I normally don’t drink these, but I’m treating myself today.”

Later, nearing the end of lunch, the conversation turned to the Pepsi bottle sitting half empty between us. Maybe because she knows I’m a dietitian, Claire felt obligated to justify her drink choice, “I know soda is high in sugar, but I just love the flavor and the fizz.” Now, if there is one thing to know about dietitians, we are teachers at heart. Counseling is in our blood. It’s rare that we pass up the opportunity for a teachable moment and this was one of those moments. I took the bait.

“Just how much sugar do you think is in this 16-ounce bottle?”

Claire answered, “Two teaspoons?”

“Nope, more.”

“Four teaspoons?”

“Keep going.”

“Six?”

“How about 14,” I muttered.

With eyes widened, Claire jerked the bottle away from her lips, her shock was palpable. I wish the number weren’t true. I wish there was a lot less sugar in many drinks, but dietitians don’t run the beverage industry or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Our influence is limited to education and damage control.

With eyes still wide, Claire asked, “So why the fuss regarding sugar? Why is too much bad?”

“Cavities for sure,” I responded, “but this pales in comparison to long-term effects. For one, sugar contains zero nutrients. No vitamins, no minerals, no fiber, no antioxidants, no protein. Nothing. This is especially concerning for children and teens who need substantial amounts of nutrients for developing brain, bones, and neuromuscular system. Using sweetened drinks in place of better options can lead to deficiencies that can have serious, lifelong consequences. Secondly, sugar acts like a wet blanket on our immune system making us more susceptible to illness. And if that’s not bad enough, sugar causes elevated insulin levels. You know about insulin, right? Its job is to take blood sugar and shuttle it into cells or whisk it away to the liver where it is turned into fat. The more sweet drinks, the more body fat we accumulate and the greater our risk of developing diabetes.”

At this point, Claire was staring at the soda as if it would bite should she reach for it. Faintly, she replied, “I don’t want to get diabetes, my sister has that and she has to give herself a shot every day. I could never do that.”

After a moment, she went on, “Ok, so you convinced me. I’ll cut my soda. But labels are not particularly user friendly, I mean, what does 58 grams look like?”

I agreed. Most of us can’t visualize grams, so it’s meaningless. And here we arrived at another teachable moment of which I was powerless to pass up.

“To calculate sugar in your favorite beverages,” I replied, “find Total Sugars on the label. You will see a gram amount. Divide this number by four. The answer is the number of teaspoons of sugar. This works because there are four grams of sugar per teaspoon. So, for example, a medium French Vanilla frozen coffee at Dunkin Donuts

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