© Murray SandersMany adults don't realise the amount of sugar in food such as cereals.
Many of them do not even realise how much they are eating because a vast range of processed food and drink, including many ready meals and cereals, are laden with sugar.
Researchers claim food companies in the U.S. have been consistently hiking the sugar content of their products to make them more enticing.
British manufacturers, however, insist they have been reducing sugar levels as part of a drive to improve the health of processed foods.
The U.S. study was the first of its kind to examine the association between the consumption of added sugars and its impact on cholesterol, the dangerous blood fats that clog the arteries.
They found that a high-sugar diet is just as deadly as a high-fat diet when it comes to increasing cholesterol and adding to the risk of heart disease.
The study, published in the April edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, found many people were unaware of how much sugar they were eating.
Assistant Professor Miriam Vos, from the Emory School of Medicine, said the high-sugar diet was a silent threat.
She said: 'Just like eating a high-fat diet can increase your levels of triglycerides and high cholesterol, eating sugar can also affect those same lipids.
Total consumption of sugar has increased substantially in recent decades, largely due to an increased intake of added sugars, defined as caloric sweeteners, used by the food industry.'
They were divided into five groups according to the amount of added sugar and caloric sweeteners-they consumed. Prof Vos said: 'The highest-consuming group consumed an average of 46 teaspoons of added sugars per day.
'The lowest-consuming group consumed an average of only about three teaspoons daily. It would be important for long-term health for people to start looking at how much added sugar they're getting.'
"Research by Which?" found a Chinese take-out of sweet and sour chicken, egg fried rice and spring rolls, that contained 62.3g of sugar - the equivalent to more than 15 teaspoons.
Ready meals generally offer a healthier option to takeaways, but even these will carry a lot of sugar.
For example, a Tesco Sweet and Sour Battered Chicken dish comes in at 31.6g of sugar. If you add egg fried rice, spring rolls, prawn crackers and a can of Coke, the sugar can total 42.3g or 10.5 teaspoons.
A Which? spokesman: 'It's no wonder people are baffled about the amount of sugar they're consuming.'
A spokesman for Britain's Food & Drink Federation said: 'Although there is no scientific consensus to show that sugar causes obesity, many companies have already reduced sugar levels as a means of lowering the energy content of their products.
'More than 700 products have been launched with new recipes since January 2008, many of which are now lower in sugars, fat and salt.
'Too much of anything is inadvisable but demonising individual food components doesn't help consumers to build a realistic approach to their diet.'
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