Putnam Parents May Want To Read AHA Guidelines Before Packing Lunchboxes

School days are almost here, so many families are making lists, buying supplies and considering what to pack for school lunches.

But before stocking up on back-to-school lunchbox basics, parents may want to read the latest recommendations from the American Heart Association (AHA).

On August 21, the AHA released new recommendations that children and teens should eat no more than 25 grams of added sugars in a day. Minimizing sugar intake is important because eating too much sugar can increase a child’s risk of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, obesity and insulin resistance potentially leading to type 2 diabetes.

If you assume this doesn’t apply to you—because you don’t pack your kids cake for lunch—read on. The American diet is sweeter than most people imagine and many children eat more grams of sugar than that in every single meal.

How much sugar is found in some foods commonly packed into lunchboxes? Here are a few examples. That lunchbox staple, the PB and J sandwich has 18 whopping grams of sugar, so you might want to skip the J. Six ounces of low fat yogurt with fruit can have up to 19 grams of sugar, so it may be wise to opt for the yogurt without fruit. A granola bar may be chock full of oats but each bar contains seven grams of sugar. A handful of dried fruit like cranberries can have 29 grams of sugar. That’s just one handful.

The real culprit in many lunches is soda. A single can of soda has 39 grams of sugar. The AHA recommends that kids and teens limit sweetened drinks to one a week, but some children and teens have them with every meal.

Even if you avoid cookies and soda, it’s not always easy to spot added sugars as they hide in some surprising places. For example, canned soup may contain 15 grams of sugar per can, while some tomato sauce has up to 12 grams in a half-cup.

Making it even trickier to reign in sugar consumption is the fact that added sugar has many aliases. There’s dextrose, disaccharide, fructose, galactose, lactose, maltose, polysaccharide, ribose and saccharose, which all break down to sugar. There are also natural sugars, such as agave cane juice, coconut sugar, date sugar, fruit juice honey, maple syrup, molasses, natural sweetener, rice malt, sorghum syrup and treacle. While some natural forms of sugar may seem to offer advantages, they all add to the daily total intake.

Sorting out the added sugars may be easier in the future. As of July 26, 2018, the FDA will require that food manufacturers list the amount of added sugars on a product’s nutritional facts panel. Added sugars will be listed in grams and as a percent of the Daily Value. According to the FDA, it’s difficult to meet nutrient guidelines if you consume more than 10 percent of your total calories from added sugar.

Until then, parents may want to study labels carefully looking for sugar in disguise. Focusing on nutritious foods is always the best bet. When packing that lunchbox opt for foods such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy products, lean meat, poultry and fish, and limit food with little nutritional value.

Your kids will thank you later on.