The Amount of Sugar Experts Say You Should Eat Daily

It's even lower than you might have guessed

For the past decade, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that your daily added-sugar consumption should be no more than 10 percent of your total caloric intake. Now, after conducting an in-depth periodic review, a WHO panel is moving to halve that amount, recommending that just five percent of your total calories come from added sugar. That amounts to about 25 grams of sugar a day.

At a press conference yesterday, WHO director for nutrition Francesco Branca explained that the panel analyzed about 9,000 previous studies and learned that when it comes to your teeth, consuming more than 10 percent of your daily calories from added sugar is correlated with a higher rate of tooth decay; meanwhile, dropping your intake to five percent was associated with a full absence of tooth decay. The studies also clearly linked a reduction in sugar consumption to a reduced risk of obesity. So in order to maximize the two health benefits, the panel proposed changing its guidelines.

Branca pointed out that the new number is a “conditional recommendation,” compared to the previous “strong recommendation.” Why? “The five percent would probably be the ideal one,” Branca said in the press conference, “and the 10 percent is the, you know, more realistic one.” (Which is a good point since there are plenty of sneaky sources of sugar.)

So for the sake of your teeth and your waistline, pay attention to your sugar intake and see if you can get it down to five percent of your total calories. These should help you whittle down that number:

Is Sugar Sneaking Into Your "Healthy" Foods?

5 Foods That Have More Sugar Than a Candy Bar

Do You Have a Sugar Blind Spot?

"My Week Without Sugar"

 

Categories: Amount , Daily , Experts , Should , Sugar