New guidelines released by the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended that adults and children take serious measures to reduce their daily intake of free sugars.
WHO said people across all age groups should reduce their everyday free sugar intake to at least 10 percent of their total energy intake, noting reducing it to 5 percent would provide additional health benefits. Free sugars (monosaccharides and disaccharides) are often added to food by manufacturers and occur naturally in " honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates," WHO reported. The new guidelines do not include sugars found in fresh fruit and vegetables or those present in milk.
"We have solid evidence that keeping intake of free sugars to less than 10 [percent] of total energy intake reduces the risk of overweight, obesity and tooth decay," says Dr. Francesco Branca, Director of WHO's Department of Nutrition for Health and Development. "Making policy changes to support this will be key if countries are to live up to their commitments to reduce the burden of noncommunicable diseases."
Free sugar intake was found to vary by age and country of residence. Daily free sugar intake in Europe ranged from averages of between 7 and 8 percent of total energy intake for countries such as Hungary and Norway to between 16 and 17 percent in Spain and the United Kingdom; sugar consumption levels proved to be significantly higher in children across most regions. WHO noted added sugars are often "hidden" in foods that are not considered to be sweets, such as ketchup and soda.
"The recommendations are based on analysis of the latest scientific evidence. This evidence shows, first, that adults who consume less sugars have lower body weight and, second, that increasing the amount of sugars in the diet is associated with a weight increase. In addition, research shows that children with the highest intakes of sugar-sweetened drinks are more likely to be overweight or obese than children with a low intake of sugar-sweetened drinks," WHO stated.
