Ketchup has 8 percent more sugar than ice cream.

The big problem with sugar is that we eat too much of it (over 154 pounds per person in 1984) and often don't even know it. All carbohydrate sweeteners qualify as sugar, even though they may be called by other names: and when sucrose is the number* seven, you don't realize it but you're eating something that is 50 percent sugar!

The consumer today is hooked on sugar right from the start. Baby formulas are frequently sweetened with sugars, as are many baby foods. Because sugar also acts as a preservative, retains and absorbs moisture, it's often in products we never think of as containing it, products such as salt, peanut butter, canned vegetables, bouillon cubes, and more. Would you believe that ketchup you put on your hamburger has just less than 8 percent more sugar than ice cream? That cream substitute for coffee is 65 percent sugar compared to 51 percent for a chocolate bar?

The fact is, we're eating too much sugar for health. It is beyond argument that sugar is a prime factor in tooth decay. Also, one-third of our population is overweight, and obesity increases the possibility of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, gallstones, back problems, and arthritis. Not that sugar alone is the cause, but its presence in foods induces you eat to more, and if you cut your calorie count without cutting your sugar intake, you'll lose nutrients faster than pounds. Sugar is also the villain where hypoglycemia is concerned and, though there have been arguments pro and con, directly or indirectly a factor in diabetes and heart disease.