Marie Antoinette never said, “Let them eat cake.” Some version of that callous pronouncement was uttered about 100 years earlier, around 1660, by the wife of the French King Louis XIV. Back then, the average peasant ate way less than two pounds of added sugar a year; that’s what the average American downed in the 1800s. And today? On average, Americans eat 152 pounds of added sugar annually — almost 3 pounds a week! But cake isn’t where you’re getting added sugar; it’s mostly soft drinks and juice beverages. They account for 43 per cent of added sugar intake!

We’ve waged war against added sugar and syrups for years, but it pays to repeat the warnings about their health hazards, especially when a startling study comes out. When mice (OK, it’s a cautionary tail, but listen up) were fed the mouse-size equivalent of a healthy human diet plus the sugar found in three cans of soda a day, females died at twice the normal rate and males were 25 per cent less likely to reproduce!

Human studies show that added sugars are directly related to obesity, reduced brain power, elevated triglycerides, heart disease, sexual dysfunction, premature aging (wrinkles, too) and some cancers.

So, if you find yourself hankerin’ for a sweet treat, snack on six walnut halves and a piece of fresh fruit (do that 30 minutes before a meal for appetite control). And for dessert, try frozen grapes or mashed, frozen bananas, flavoured with your favourite seasoning (cinnamon, basil, cayenne, anything goes!). Then life will be truly sweet!