The 2015 Dietary Guideline Advisory Committee just released new recommendations to limit added sugars to 10 percent of daily calories. Right now, Americans are eating more sugar than ever before — on average, about 160 pounds a year.

James DiNicolantonio is a cardiovascular research scientist at St. Luke's Mid-America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Mo. He recently published a comprehensive review of dozens of studies in which he contends that sugar is more dangerous than salt when it comes to risk for heart disease. He says that refined sugar is similar to cocaine -- a white crystal extracted from sugar cane rather than coca leaves -- and that studies show it can be even more addictive than the recreational drug.

"When you look at animal studies comparing sugar to cocaine," DiNicolantonio told Here & Now's Lisa Mullins, "even when you get the rats hooked on IV cocaine, once you introduce sugar, almost all of them switch to the sugar."

DiNicolantonio is careful to differentiate between refined and intrinsic sugars; while the former have the potential to cause adverse health effects due to their concentrated nature, the latter, such as lactose in milk, "aren't necessarily unhealthy," he explained. In fact, humans are biologically drawn to sugar, as it helps the body to store fat, and thus allowed us to better survive winter in Paleolithic times.