Want a little sugar on that? Health researchers at the Iowa State UniversityExtension office have found what they call an alarming increase in theamount of sugar people are routinely consuming. The study finds the averageAmerican now eats 156 pounds of sugar every year.Professor Elisabeth Schafer is an I-S-U Extension nutritionist. She says thepopularity of soda pop is the number-one reason for the big increase in sugarconsumption.Schafer says studies have linked high sugar consumption with health problemslike hypertension, osteoporosis and even some types of cancer. She says evenpeople who try to eat healthy foods can’t avoid sugar. She says it’s in mostfoods, in one form or another.Schafer says one of the best things we can do to cut back on sugar is toreach for a piece of fruit instead of a candy bar, or drink water instead ofsoda.