Todays Newsbites

Grains and legumes will play starring roles in new product introductions this year

The percentage of calories Americans consume from restaurant fast food such as hamburgers and pizza declined slightly in a new government report

Half a million lives could be saved over a 10-year period by steadily reducing

Comfort food may translate into high-calorie food when people perceive that times are tough

Say goodbye to pork butt.

If youre already worried about your weight and diet

People with celiac disease look-ing for gluten-free options

The term natural on food labels, already meaningless

Combining calorie counts with traffic-light

Nutrition experts have been warn- ing us to watch added sugars for at least a decade, but Americans are still struggling to follow that advice. Rachel Johnson, PhD, MPH, RD, of the Univer- sity of Vermont, incoming chair of the American Heart Associations nutrition committee, told a recent conference that Americans average 475 daily calories from added sugars. Thats far more than the AHAs recommended maximum of 100 daily calories from added sugars for women and 150 for men-and equivalent to a whopping 30 teaspoons a day. So we have a long way to go, Johnson told attendees at the American Dietetic Association Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. Added sugars and solid fats total about 35% of the calories in the average diet, she added; the recommended maximum is 5%- 15%. To start scaling back on added sugars, Johnson advised simply avoiding sugary soft drinks, the source of about 36% of added sugars in the US diet. But dont worry about naturally occurring sugars, such as in milk or plain versions of cereal or yogurt, she said. Check the label to see if sugar in any form is listed among the ingredients.