WHO recommends five percent sugar

New WHO recommendation on sugar consumption planned

06/03/2014

Sugar lurks everywhere: No matter if in ready-made soups, ketchup, pastries or fruit juice drinks. Even those who try to eat as little sugar as possible will have a hard time, especially with the ready meals. Because sugar lurks often in food, where the consumer would hardly suspect. The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to drastically reduce sugar consumption. „Only a maximum of five percent of your daily calories should be sugar.“ That's only half as much as previous WHO guidelines.

The current WHO guidelines recommend limiting sugar intake to ten percent of the total daily energy intake. However, according to the WHO, a reduction to five percent would have significant health benefits. In particular, the risk of overweight and tooth decay is reduced by the stricter limitation of sugar consumption. The WHO rates particularly critically that today „Much of the sugar consumed is hidden in processed foods that are not normally seen as sweets.“ For example, one tablespoon of ketchup contains around four grams of sugar. Sugar is an integral part of many people's daily calorie intake. According to the WHO, sugar consumption does not only have a direct negative impact on caries, obesity and diabetes, but also the fact that sugary foods often replace healthier foods indirectly has a detrimental effect on health.

Not more than 25 grams of sugar daily
The proposed five percent of total daily energy intake would be equivalent to intake of around 25 grams of sugar in an adult with a normal body mass index (BMI), the WHO reports. Take into account the limit „all monosaccharides (for example glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar)“, the food, but also the natural sugar in honey, syrup, fruit juices and fruit concentrates. Following the public consultation and parallel peer review, the guidelines will be finalized and henceforth serve as a recommendation for countries to limit sugar consumption. The WHO also hopes for one „Repressing public health problems such as obesity and tooth decay.“

Resistance to WHO guidelines on sugar consumption expected
However, the WHO experts can expect a strong contradiction in view of their ambitious goal, since the food industry has already tried to prevent it with all the means in its power with the introduction of the ten percent limit. In addition, the average consumption of sugar in modern industrial nations today is about three times as high as it should be in the future. Although the evaluation of thousands of studies suggests that limiting to five percent of the total daily energy intake would make sense, it is likely to remain at ten percent in the WHO guidelines for the time being. However, the WHO has initiated a discussion that urgently needs to be continued in the future. Because more and more food manufacturers use meanwhile „hidden“ Sugar in foods that appear unsweetened at first sight. Many consumers consume large quantities of sugar every day without knowing it. (Fp)