By Dawn Richard
Growing up in an African American community is an experience like no other. In this case, I’m talking about the food that we cherish as part of our culture - from foods that are shared at family reunions to the popular snacks consumed as a child. I recall going over to my friend Latonya’s house down the street to hang out after school frequently. We always looked forward to raiding her pantry before starting our homework (or trying to instead of going outside to play). Some of our go to’s included Honey Buns (13 grams of sugar), Fruit By The Foots (10 grams of sugar), some Oreo cookies (14 grams of sugar), and, of course, a Capri Sun juice or two (another 10-20 grams of sugar).
Unbeknownst to our young minds and bodies, this was an extra 40 grams of sugars, such as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) that was being injected into our afternoon diets.
Although we were just kids and not necessarily responsible for consuming all these sugary snacks, we did develop sweet-toothed habits that would follow us into our adult lives. Like many other African Americans who ate what was in front of them growing up, regardless of nutritional value or the amount of sugar, our relationship with sugar starts at a young age. Without changing or realizing these habits, African Americans make themselves more susceptible to developing health issues, often at alarming rates.
With HFCS and 60 other sugars found in numerous foods and drinks in many African American community corner stores, the rate of diabetes and other sugar-related health issues is higher among African Americans compared to any other demographic in America.
HFCS, a substance banned in certain countries, such as the United Kingdom, and cities, like Vancouver, is the first ingredient in many of America’s sodas, cookies, chips, and even ketchup. This can easily result in the high amount of added sugar consumption, something that can contribute to developing diabetes and other health related diseases.
Why does the intake of high fructose corn syrup matter to your health, especially for African Americans?
High fructose corn syrup is a fructose-glucose sweetener alternative to sucrose, commonly known as table sugar, and was first introduced to the food and beverage industry in the 1970s. HFCS is found in nearly all non-diet sodas, cereals, salad dressings, cheese spreads, yogurts, candy, jams, peanut butter, and many other foods and beverages.
HFCS quickly became widely popular in the food and beverage industry due to its low cost in comparison to all other sweeteners. HFCS typically costs half the price of typical table sugar, which allows for the food and beverage industry to make a higher profit. As a result, HFCS has crept into many of America’s foods and beverages, in sometimes alarming amounts.
Dr. Anastasia Snelling, a professor and Chair of the Department of Health Studies at American University, confirmed that sugar in a small amount is not harmful.
“Sugar is embedded in a lot of foods that we eat. Sugar might be in the cereal you had for breakfast or in the muffin you had mid-break. It just finds its way into all these foods and that’s where it’s very difficult for the American consumer to keep track of how much they are taking in,” said Dr. Snelling.
The American Heart Association recommends that men consume no more than 38 grams of added sugar on a daily basis and no more than 25 grams per day for women. Without knowing, a person can easily consume the daily suggestion amount with a single 12oz can of Coca-Cola, which contains 38g of HFCS, an added sugar.
According to the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, African American adults are 80 percent more likely than non-Hispanic white adults to have been diagnosed with diabetes by a physician. Additionally, African Americans are twice as likely as non-Hispanic whites to die from diabetes.
While sugar is not the only cause for developing diabetes for African Americans, studies have shown that diets that reduce sugar intake can be a helpful step in lowering the risk of developing diabetes.
“We have had sugar around forever and, in small amounts, sugar is not going to be that harmful. What has happened is that many of our calories have gotten displaced by having a lot more sugars as a percentage of the diet and, because of that, it’s added caloric intake, plus the displacement of other nutrient-rich foods. It can have detrimental effects on our diet,” Dr. Snelling said.
HFCS is only one of the many names that sugar can be labeled under on the nutrition label. Currently, added sugar comes in 61 different names on food labels with sucrose, barley malt, dextrose, maltose and rice syrup being other names that regularly appear. With the average consumer probably only paying attention to these common words for sugar, there can be a lot of confusion while reading nutrition labels.
“The term sugar can have as many as 60 names. You almost have to be a scientist in order to understand,” Dr. Snelling said.
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does require food producers to list each ingredient in foods, the FDA does not require manufacturers to differentiate between whether the total sugar includes added sugar. Added sugars are basically all sugars that are not naturally found in a food. This makes it harder to know how much added sugar you are consuming and can easily cause confusion for consumers. Natural sugars are typically okay in a diet; it’s the many uncommon sugars that can begin to cause health issues.
Foods with no added sugars are typically fruit and milk. In America, manufactures have added sugar to 74 percent of packaged foods sold in supermarkets as stated by Sugar Science.
“[Sugar and HFCS] really adds calories to our diet and given the rates of obesity and the linkage of obesity and chronic conditions like diabetes, some populations are disproportionately affected and at higher rates,” said Snelling.
Why does it seem that African Americans are more susceptible to developing diabetes based on their diets and sugar intakes?
As found by stateofobesity.org, only eight percent of African Americans have access to one or more supermarkets in their communities in comparison to 31 percent of Whites. With African American communities having less access to supermarkets, where fresh and non-sugar added foods can be purchased, they can be more likely to go into corner stores or fast food restaurants instead for their meals and snacks.
There is also the connection between African Americans living in poverty and their health.
As stated by the Trust for America’s Health, there is a strong correlation between poverty and an increase in obesity since fewer nutrient-rich foods are typically less expensive than healthier foods. Roughly 25 percent of African American families are food insecure (not having consistent access to adequate food due to lack of money or other resources), compared to 11 percent of White households, as found by a report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. With money being a concern, sometimes African Americans struggle to prioritize their health when trying to survive on a low income.
“I know we [my family] don’t pay much attention to sugar and all that. I try my best with what I have just so everyone is fed,” said Moe Simmons, 34, an African American head of household from Southeast Washington, D.C. “I know too much of it [sugar] is bad…but when we [are] grocery shopping we focusing on getting in and out.”
Additionally, marketers are well aware that African Americans live in food deserts, urban areas where it’s difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food, and as a result, African American communities are much more likely to be filled with advertisements for sugar-filled foods and beverages with low nutritional value.
“We need to maintain better marketing. Marketing in Black magazines is very different…than in marketing to a White or Latino population,” said Dr. Snelling.
Billboards and other outdoor advertisements that promote foods of low nutritional value are 13 times denser in predominately African American communities than White ones, as found by a study of ethnically targeted and general audience outdoor obesity-related advertising.
What can African Americans do to lower their HFCS and sugar intake to aid in decreasing their chances of developing a chronic disease?
Karen Walwyn, an African American professor at Howard University, had to drastically change her diet and the way she thought about sugar after being diagnosed with Hypokalemic periodic paralysis, a disorder that causes occasional episodes of muscle weakness and sometimes a lower than normal level of potassium in the blood.
Walwyn’s disorder and diabetes are similar in that both of them can cause your pancreas to work overtime if too much sugar is in the blood.
When searching for answers to fight her disorder, Walwyn tried the traditional route of taking medication and going to doctors. But when that only helped so much, Walwyn searched and evaluated every aspect of her life, starting with her diet.
“Whenever I’ve gone to different doctors to talk about what I should do with my diet, there’s never an answer because it’s not their field and, in some cases, it’s not their interest and in other cases it’s not in their best interest because they want to prescribe medications,” said Walwyn when she was attempting to get better with her condition.
Walwyn feels that by changing her diet to nutrient-rich foods with no added sugars, she has experienced the most noticeable difference to not only her health, but also her life.
“I have colleagues and associates who have this disorder, and they are in wheelchairs permanently. I was basically bedridden for two months, and during that time, my muscles had collapsed. If I hadn’t changed my diet, I would now be in a wheelchair, taking medication, and happy to be breathing,” Walwyn said.
This lifestyle change did not come easily to Walywn, like most people who decide to make a drastic lifestyle change. Instead of being able to order anything off a menu, Walwyn now requests to know which ingredients are in certain foods, and, because of her condition, she sometimes avoids ordering sweets all together when she is eating away from home. It’s not even worth the risk and pain that the added sugars can cause to her body.
Making lifestyle changes, especially dietary ones, can seem daunting and impossible in the beginning, but by slowly exchanging added sugar filled foods with fresh fruits and other natural, whole foods, African Americans can lower their risks of developing not only diabetes, but also heart disease, which remains to be the main cause of death among all Americans by working to have a cleaner, healthier diet overall. Changing one’s diet also saves money from medical bills and prescriptions by preventing the development of certain health issues in the first place.
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