by the food industry and consumers as ingredients in processed or prepared foods to increase the desirability of those foods . '' Data from the mid-1990s show that 15.8 percent of the typical American 's diet was composed of added sugar -- 21.4 teaspoons or 359 calories per day . That 's up from 10.6 percent in 1977-1978 . Added sugars have been linked to obesity , diabetes and tooth decay . The researchers studied 6,113 adults enrolled in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey . Interviewers called them and asked what they had eaten the previous day , then estimated the total added sugar in each person 's diet . Participants were then separated into groups : Those who got less than 5 percent of total calories from added sugar ; 5 percent to less than 10 percent ; 10 percent to less than 17.5 percent ; 17.5 percent to less than 25 percent ; and 25 percent or more . Those in the highest-consuming added sugar group eat about 46 teaspoons of added sugar per day , the study said . Those who consumed more added sugar tended to be younger , non-Latino blacks with low income
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Sugar lovers may have to face a bitter truth : The less sugar added to foods for typical people , the better are their blood-fat profiles and the lower are their cardiovascular risks , a study to be published Wednesday concludes . `` We found that the lower the amount of added sugar people ate , the better their good cholesterol and their blood triglyceride levels , '' said co-author Dr. Miriam B. Vos , assistant professor of pediatrics at Emory University in Atlanta , Georgia , and author of `` The No-Diet Obesity Solution for Kids . '' Unfortunately for dessert lovers , the converse is true . Increased sugars are associated with important cardiovascular disease risk factors , according to the report . The authors cited lower levels of HDL-C , which is sometimes referred to as the good cholesterol , and higher levels of triglycerides . The study , to be published in the Journal of the American Medical Association , highlights a trend some nutritionists consider disturbing : In recent years , the typical American 's diet has increasingly incorporated added sugars . The authors defined them as `` caloric sweeteners used