No can do soda, parents

Even 1 per wk. harms kids

IF YOUR KIDS drink just one can of soda a week, you’re parenting all wrong.

Children ages 2 to 18 should sip no more than 8 ounces of sugar-sweetened drinks over a seven-day period, the American Heart Association says in new recommendations published Monday in the journal Circulation.

That includes sodas, sports and energy drinks, fruit-flavored waters and sweetened teas, and means that even one of these beloved beverages — which are commonly sold in 12-ounce cans or 20-ounce personal bottles — blows your kid’s soft drink budget for the entire week.

“Sugary drinks are the No. 1 source of calories from added sugar in the American diet and in children’s diets, so this is a great place to start in cutting sugar,” Dr. Rachel Johnson, co-author of the new American Heart Association recommendations, told the Daily News. She and other researchers pored over studies that proved children who chug sugary drinks are at greater risk of obesity, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.

And if moms and dads think dumping soft drinks is hard to swallow, wait until they learn the rest of the association’s new sugar cap, which is even stricter than the Food and Drug Administration’s guidelines released last January. The association limits the recommended added sugar intake for kids and teens to less than 6 teaspoons (or 25 grams) a day, which is half of the FDA overall daily allowance of 12.5 teaspoons, or 50 grams, for someone older than 3.

To put that into perspective, a cup of Mott’s Original Applesauce has 22 to 23 grams of sugar in it — almost your kid’s entire daily sugar allowance in just one snack pack. These hidden sugars destroying your kid’s diets are found in many processed foods that busy parents rely on for quick, easy meals: An envelope of Quaker Instant Oatmeal has about 12 grams of sugar; and one cup of Newman’s Own marinara tomato sauce holds 14 grams of sugar.

Back in 2009, the American Heart Association recommended that grown men and women stick to 9 teaspoons/36 grams and 6 teaspoons/24 grams of sugar a day. But the body of science available now on added sugar and children called for the organization’s first-ever sweetener recommendations for those younger than 18.