‘That Sugar Film’ looks at what 40 teaspoons of sugar a day can do

Forty teaspoons of sugar a day.

That’s how much the average Australian gets in their daily diet, according to a new film out about the added sugars in processed foods.

“That Sugar Film,” made by Australian actor/director Damon Gameau, takes a page out of “Supersize Me” and has Gameau track how his body changes after he starts eating 40 teaspoons of the sweet stuff a day. Gameau limits his sugar intake to “healthy foods” — stuff like low-fat yogurts, granola bars and cereal.

So he’s not getting his sugar in the ways you’d expect– he’s skipping soda, ice cream and other sweets. Instead, he’s making a statement about how much added sugar is in our diets — sugar that is thrown in to processed food to make it more palatable.

No surprise: Gameau found that he gained a significant amount of weight very quickly by altering his diet to hit his sugar goals.

The American Heart Association recommends men stay under eight teaspoons of sugar a day. Eight. Women should keep under six.

“These are the foods with flowers and bees and sunsets on their labels,” Gameau told the New York Times.

“That’s the whole point of the film. If I had been eating chocolate doughnuts and soft drinks, we know what would have happened to me. But the fact that this happened when I was following the low-fat diet that we’ve all been prescribed for 35 years – that was surprising.”