Science

Americans love sugar, notably added sugars. We eat a lot of it—like A LOT—to the tune of 17 teaspoons of added sugars a day on average for U.S. adults, mainly in the form of sugary drinks and treats, but also in sneakier foods like protein bars and condiments. That’s 40% more than what’s recommended by the Dietary Guidelines.1 Eating too much added sugar can negatively impact your health, from causing inflammation to increasing your risk of certain health conditions such as type 2 diabetes. You may also have heard that eating lots of sugar causes cancer, but spoiler alert: it’s not so simple. While diets high in refined and added sugars are linked with higher rates of cancer, the idea that sugar exclusively feeds cancer cells—or conversely, that starving cancer cells of sugar can be beneficial—is a myth.