FARGO — Times Square added a new piece of art in August 2018: A massive pile of sugar to represent the 45,000 pounds of sugar that children in the U.S. consume every five minutes.
"It just seems that everything has more and more sugar, yeah there's a lot more healthy options out there, but the unhealthy options with all the sugars is a lot cheaper and easier to get a hold of," said Fargo, father of four, Dennis Britton.
The problem isn't unique to the U.S. — children in the U.K. by age 10 have exceeded the recommended amount of sugar intake for an 18 year old, according to a study by United Kingdom health agency Public Health England.
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One thing that could be causing this serious sugar rush is that it can sometimes be tough to identify sugary foods. A lot of sugars can hide in plain sight. Juice-based drinks marketed as healthy alternatives to soft drinks manage to pack quite a bit of the stuff in.
For example, V8 Splash has 19 grams of sugar per serving.
Sports drinks such as Powerade and Gatorade don't fare well either both come in at 21 grams of sugar, orange juice 33 grams of sugar
"You know you think you're being healthy, but really there's a ton of sugar in things like that," said Britton.
According to a health and fitness website, kids in the U.S. eat 4.7 billion pounds of sugar every year. That's enough to cover over 17-hundred football fields. Some, think parents are to blame.
"Monkey see, monkey do type of thing," said Britton. "I think if parents would eat a little healthier, maybe make more things at home, I think kids would start to eat a little bit better as well."
The problem is about far more than just a sugar high and obesity. Too much sugar has been linked to an increased risk of diabetes, depression and cancer.
Healthline offers a detailed list of negative health affects caused by sugar and helpful ways to reduce your consumption.
