Health Problems?
By Dulce Sanabria
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| The Unites States had the leading obesity rate in 2009. |
Many student athletes take sports drinks to their games or practices. Even though the sports drinks are healthier than most other soft drinks, they still contain more sugar than what we are supposed to be in taking. The average amount of sugar (in grams) in a sports drink is 14.5 grams. Gatorade, has 14 grams of added sugar in an 8 ounce serving. Though, most of the time, they come in 32 ounce bottles. That’s four times of what teenagers should be consuming.
Also, little kids love juice right? Well the average amount of sugar in an 8 ounce serving of juice is around 20 grams! That’s for the kids! Non-diabetic, average adults are not supposed to get over around 40 grams. Most kids drink juice with a snack or meal. And probably more than 8 fluid ounces at a time too.
A lot of Americans have soda with their lunch and dinner. Research says that 5 out of 7 people drinks soda everyday. A very popular soft drink is Coca Cola. The amount of sugar in an 8 ounce serving is about 27 grams. Eight ounces is not a lot and is easy to surpass. Then your sugar intake will increase. With one of these servings an adult will be in taking more than half of what they should. And that’s only one of their drinks during the day!
Teenagers also like many soft drinks. Like here in school, there is a drink called 'Switch'. One can of this soft drink contains 30 grams of sugar. That’s twice as much sugar as teenagers should be taking!
This much amount of sugar in our diets can create many health problems. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention states “ More than one-third (35.7%) of adults are obese.” Also, there has been a huge increase in the obesity rate over the past 20 years. In 2010, none of the states (in the U.S.) had less than 20% as their obesity rate.
Almost 3 billion 32 ounce bottles of Gatorade are sold every year. And that’s just ONE of the many sports drinks. There are still lots soft drinks and juices that are probably sold by the billions every year too.
Word Count: 419
Media Frame: Demonize
Dulce, though you were trying to demonize the sugar intake of many US teens and adults, it is far better used as a personalized article. With the ability relate to sugar consumption, people will think about their own diets and consumption habits. This was well written and full of good information, however, I recommend that you have a friend proof read your next article.
ReplyDeleteMs. Clements