World Health Organisation halves daily recommended sugar intake
Experts at World Health Organisation now say daily sugar consumption should be just 5pc of total calories to combat obesity and tooth decay
The World Health Organisation says your daily sugar intake should be just 5 per cent of your total calories - half of what the agency previously recommended, according to new draft guidelines published yesterday.
After a review of about 9,000 studies, WHO's expert panel says dropping sugar intake to that level will combat obesity and cavities. That includes sugars added to foods and those present in honey, syrups and fruit juices, but not those occurring naturally in fruits.
Americans and others in the West eat a lot more sugar than that: their average sugar intake would have to drop by two-thirds to meet WHO's suggested limit.
WHO's new guidelines have been published online and the agency is inviting the public to comment via its website until the end of March.
Many doctors applauded the UN agency's attempt to limit the global sweet tooth.
"The less sugar you're eating, the better," said Dr Robert Lustig, a professor of paediatrics at the University of California and author of a book about the dangers of sugar. "If the sugar threshold is lowered, I think breakfast cereal is going to have a really hard time justifying its existence," he said, referring to sweetened cereals often targeted to children.
When WHO last revised its sugar guidelines more than a decade ago, it recommended sugar should be less than 10 per cent of daily calories. The US sugar industry was so incensed it lobbied Congress to threaten to withdraw millions of dollars in funding to WHO. A contentious reference to the sugar limit was removed from a global diet strategy but the recommendation passed.