“When we’re concerned about our sugar intake, we’re mostly concerned about our added sugar intake. Our added sugar intake should not be more than 10 percent of our total caloric intake for the day. Added sugars are present, mostly, in sweetened beverages, so sodas and fruit juices, as well as processed food. Food that you’ll find in a box, a bag, any kind of container is going to contain added sugar. Natural sugars are okay, fruit, milk will contain sugar, and that’s okay to consume. The concern is that if you have a high percentage of added sugar intake, you might not be meeting your nutritional needs within your caloric limit.”
Monaa Zafar, MD, is a board certified primary care doctor at Mount Sinai Doctors, seeing patients Monday-Friday. She has a particular interest in disease prevention, health promotion, and chronic illnesses. Dr. Zafar is fluent in Urdu and Spanish. Mount Sinai Doctors is an organization of clinical relationships and multi-specialty services that expand the Mount Sinai Health System’s footprint beyond the seven main hospital campuses into the greater New York City area.