When the American Heart Association announced its guidelines for sugar consumption last month, it sent shock waves through Hawai'i. Sugar shock, that is, as Islanders counted up the calories they have been consuming from all the sources of sugar in their diets.

The guidelines recommend that women consume no more than 100 calories a day from added sugar — the equivalent of about six teaspoons, at 16 calories per teaspoon. For men, the limit is 150 calories, or nine teaspoons.

However, the current average for women and men is the equivalent of a shocking 22 teaspoons a day.

What does sugar do in our bodies? "Think of your body like a car," said Dr. Jay Maddock, a professor and director of the Office of Public Health Studies at the John A. Burns School of Medicine. "Sugar is like jet fuel. It's like filling your car with jet fuel instead of unleaded gasoline. It gives the body a fast spike in blood sugar levels so you get quick energy, then a huge drop-off. The problem is that, over time, this consistent going up and down can lead to diabetes."

In addition, he added, it can have a depressive effect on the immune system, making it harder to fight off diseases.

We often trick ourselves into thinking one sugar is healthier than another; for example, washed raw sugar or brown sugar is healthier than granulated sugar. Not true. "Processed cane sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, they all do the same thing in the body," Maddock said.

INCREASES IN OBESITY

Then of course, there are all the empty calories, since sugar has no nutrients. "Over the past 20 years, we've seen dramatic increases in obesity, one of the main culprits," Maddock said. "Every year the statistics go up and up, and a lot of research has attributed this to sugar consumption increase."

In 1995, 32 percent of people in Hawai'i were overweight and 10.8 percent obese. In 2008, 34.2 percent were overweight and 23.1 percent obese: The incidence of obesity has doubled in 13 years.

Maddock believes there is so much added sugar in our foods because the U.S. heavily subsidizes corn, making it the cheapest thing to grow and the cheapest additive. "They take that corn and turn it into ethanol or corn syrup."

It turns up in foods as high-fructose corn syrup. Look for it on labels for everything from ketchup to crackers, soft drinks to cereals, yogurt to marinara sauce.

WHAT TO DO?

"You've got to get savvy in terms of reading the ingredient list" in foods, said Nicole Kerr, a registered dietician. "Sugar is in all sorts of things, under all sorts of names. If you need a chemistry degree to read the label, put it back on the shelf."

She warned that anything ending in "-ose" is a form of sugar: fructose, sucrose, maltose, dextrose and glucose, for example. Also watch out for molasses, honey and corn syrup.

"Our threshold for sweetness has been increasing," Kerr said. "It's something that's developed. When mom takes baby from baby food to grownup foods, she often goes from milk to full-on juice. No! Dilute the juice right off the bat for babies" so they don't develop a high threshold for sweetness with their first exposure to foods and drinks.

As reported by the Heart Association, soda pop is the primary source of added sugar in the American diet. That is also true in Hawai'i, but here we tend to consume more sugary "juice drinks" in addition to sodas.

Maddock said some sports drinks are also loaded with sugars.

"They're made for high-endurance athletes. If you're running a marathon, it makes sense, but if you're walking the dog for 15 minutes, it doesn't."

Watch out for processed foods labeled low-fat. Sugars are often substituted for fats.

SOME STRATEGIES

A few years back, a female athlete at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa came to Kerr wanting to lose weight. Kerr discovered the athlete was putting ketchup on everything, adding up to almost three cups a day. She made one change to her diet, eliminating ketchup, and lost the weight.

"You won't crave as much sugar if you're not eating a whole lot," Kerr explained. "These sugars are fillers. It sets up cravings in us to want more. It's easier to lose weight if you get sugars out of your system."

She works on reducing or eliminating sugars from clients' drinks first, taking them from regular sodas to diet sodas and finally to water with lemon.

"You can get to the point where sugar doesn't taste good to you," Kerr points out. She recommends eating fresh fruit to satisfy a craving for something sweet. Bananas and grapes are among the sweetest fruits, so start with them.

Cereals are another sugar culprit. Kerr recommends mixing unsweetened and sweetened cereals at first to cut back, then a total transition to unsugared cereals.

For chocoholics, Kerr advises buying bags of mini-bars and kisses and putting them in the freezer. "You take one out and see how long you can take to make it dissolve. It's not about denying yourself chocolate, it's just about slowing down."

The ideal way to reduce sugar addiction, Kerr said, is to avoid processed foods and eat only whole foods. It may take time to wean ourselves, but it will be worth it in terms of overall health.