Sponsored: Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs)

Ask Leah! The Ingles Dietitian

Sponsored: Sugar Sweetened Beverages (SSBs)

We tend to think of sodas when we hear ‘sugar sweetened beverages’ (SSB), but, according to the CDC, the list of what SSBs includes is quite a bit longer:

“Examples of SSBs include, but are not limited to, regular soda (not sugar-free), fruit drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, sweetened waters, and coffee and tea beverages with added sugars…”

Basically, it is any beverage that is sweetened with “… various forms of added sugars like brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, and sucrose….”. So, this could also include beverages like kombucha, alcoholic drinks, smoothies, green drinks etc.

Why is this important? It’s often quite easy to consume a lot of calories without realizing it if you’re drinking sugar sweetened beverages.

Bottom Line: If you’re trying to be mindful of added sugar in your diet, don’t forget to think about what you drink!

Source: www.cdc.gov/nutrition/data-statistics/sugar-sweetened-beverages-intake.html