This week Food Dive took an in depth look at sugar consumption and sugar’s role in food and beverage products. Along with other scientists in the field, Dr. Courtney Gaine, Sugar Association President and CEO, commented on both the trends in sugar consumption and the unique functional properties of sugar in foods.
“According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans consumed 20.8 teaspoons of added sugars and sweeteners per day in 1970. That amount spiked in 2000 to 26 teaspoons, largely due to soda consumption, Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of the Sugar Association, told Food Dive.”
Today, the average person has about 22.5 teaspoons of added sugars each day.
Click here to read the full Food Dive article including the fact that currently there is no single ingredient that can be substituted for sugar and duplicate all of its functional properties.
February 25, 2026
Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of the Sugar Association, which represents the industry on scientific matters, said at the International Sweetener Colloquium. “It is really easy to regulate sugar. You can get easy wins for sugar,” Gaine said as she others discussed the impact of the MAHA movement. “The narrative is: The government and food […]
February 20, 2026
Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of the Sugar Association, a scientific body which supports the U.S. sugar industry, told the USDA Outlook Forum that the school meal standards taking effect next year might prohibit added sugars in kindergarten meals and significantly restrict them in other grades. That change alone would cut sugar demand by over […]
January 10, 2026
The health secretary’s new dietary guidelines tell parents to cut the added sugar until their kids turn 11. “Misleading rhetoric “declaring war” on and creating unsubstantiated fear about a real ingredient like real sugar will not improve children’s health,” said Courtney Gaine, the association’s president and CEO, in a statement. “Real sugar — which comes […]
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