When I was growing up my beverage choices were water or milk, except for the occasional soda I was offered on weekends! On hot sunny days I would come into the house and have a glass of cool tap water or sit down for dinner and have a glass of ice-cold milk. “Stop sipping sugared beverages.”

However, I do have a sugar tooth, as do most Americans, judged by the amount of sugar we consume regularly. The American Heart Association’s recommended daily limits for sugar are 9 teaspoons for men and 6 teaspoons for women. The average American consumes 22 teaspoons a day!

Sugar-sweetened beverages have sugar added and sugar has many names. Look for any of these words on the list of ingredients: sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, honey, invert sugar, molasses, sucrose, syrup or cane sugar.”

A typical 20-ounce bottle of sugar-sweetened soda has 15-18 teaspoons’ worth of sugar. Non-diet sodas, blended coffee drinks, sweet teas, energy drinks, sport drinks and sweetened waters and juices contain a lot of sugar.

“Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages are unlike most things in the diet in that they provide nothing of value, but are major drivers of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and other health problems,” Michael Jacobson, PhD, said in a statement issued after the last meeting of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.