 In 1776, at the time of the American Revolution, Americans consumed about 4 pounds of sugar per person each year. By 1850, this had risen to 20 pounds, and by 1994 to 120 pounds. Now we're closer to 160. Half of that is fructose, taking up about 10% of our diet. This is not from eating apples, but rather the fact that we're each guzzling the equivalent of a 16-ounce soft drink every day on average. It's about 50 gallons a year. Even researchers paid by the likes of the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and the Coca-Cola Company acknowledged that sugar is empty calories, containing no essential micronutrients, and therefore if we're trying to reduce caloric intake, you know, reducing sugar consumption is obviously the place to start. Concern has been raised, though, that sugar calories may be worse than just empty. A growing body of scientific evidence suggests that the fructose added to foods and beverages in the form of table sugar and high fructose corn syrup. In large enough amounts can trigger processes that lead to liver toxicity and other chronic diseases. Fructose hones in like a laser beam on the liver. And like alcohol, fructose can increase the fat in the liver, increasing the risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which one of the most remarkable medical developments of the past three decades, the emergence of fatty liver inflammation is a public health problem here and around the globe. These may not be messages that the sugar industry or beverage makers want to hear. In response, the Director General of a Sugar Industry Front Group replied, overconsumption of anything is harmful, including of water and air. Yes, the overconsumption of sugar compared to breathing too much. As one author expressed, I suppose it's natural for the vast and powerful sugar interests to seek to protect themselves since sugar takes up the single greatest percentage of our daily caloric intake. The American Art Association is trying to change that, though, under their new sugar guidelines. Most American women should consume no more than 100 calories per day from added sugars. Most American men should eat or drink no more than 150. That means one can of soda could take us over the top for the whole day. Similarly, the new draft guidelines from the World Health Organization suggest we could benefit from restricting added sugars to under 5% of calories. That's about six spoonfuls of added sugar a day. I don't know why they don't just recommend zero as optimal, but you can get a sense of how radical their proposal is, given that this is how many we consume right now.