This week, I said goodbye to my favorite Doctor. After a decades-long relationship, knowing I won’t have Dr. Pepper waiting for me in the refrigerator is certainly disheartening. I didn’t want to be an ageist, but the doctor was getting old. Born in Waco, Texas, in 1885, she’s changed over the years. Originally made with cane sugar (probably molasses and caramel), the sweet lady is now just another high-fructose-laden bomb waiting to take me down. But I digress.

The truth is that I consume too much sugar. As a nation, Americans consume about 60 pounds of sugar annually. Yikes! The American Heart Association suggests that men consume no more than nine teaspoons of sugar daily. That’s about 36 grams. For the whole day! Dr. Pepper packs 39 grams in a 12-ounce can and 65 grams in a 20-ounce bottle.

The AMA suggests that women consume no more than 25 grams of sugar daily. You can get that in one of those tiny 7.5-ounce Dr. Pepper cans that cost more than 12 ounces.

I’ve deluded myself into believing that since I am very active, some extra sugar each day isn’t a problem. Unfortunately, when I recorded everything I ate for a week and then figured out my total sugars, I reached almost 1,000 grams. Double Yikes! All sodas are now likely off my diet since I have concerns about artificial sweeteners.

Latest Sugar-Sweetened Beverage and Artificial-Sweetener Study

In a recent article of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, a 30-year study of 13,269 cardiovascular disease events and subsequent three-decade follow-up showed some scary, if not unexpected results.

Although physical activity did show a reduction in CVD (cardiovascular disease) even with elevated sugar consumption, it’s not enough to overcome the hazards of sugar.

In layman’s terms, patients who never or rarely consumed sugar-sweetened or artificially sweetened beverages had the best 30-year results compared to those who consumed more than two servings per day of sugar-based drinks with a hazard ratio of 1.21, or about a 21% increase in developing CVD. Those drinking artificially sweetened beverages saw only a 1.03 increase. However, there may be other complications from artificial sweeteners.

Now, compared to patients who didn’t meet guidelines for physical activity and were drinking more than two servings per week of sugar-sweetened beverages, the hazard ratio was 1.47, or almost 50% higher for CVD.

The ratios for those drinking artificially sweetened drinks and getting little physical activity saw no increase for those drinking two servings per day and two servings per week.

The court of opinion is still out on artificial substitutes, although some studies and individuals have mentioned continued or exaggerated weight gain, migraines, and digestive problems as possible side effects. The FDA allows their use.