The World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued new guidelines on sugar consumption that say adults and children from most countries in the world should roughly halve the amount of sugar they eat to lower the risk of obesity and tooth decay.

The new advice suggests people should reduce their sugar consumption to less than 10 per cent of their daily energy intake. This is equivalent to about 50g or 12 teaspoons of sugar for adults. Based on a 2,000-calorie diet, this means no more than 200 calories should come from sugar, according to the new advice.

The organisation advocates that cutting sugar to less than 5 per cent of one’s daily calorie intake would go even further to help prevent chronic diseases linked to poor diets including heart disease, cancer and diabetes. In the 2,000-calorie diet scenario, this means just 100 calories can come from sugar.

These recommendations cover sugars such as glucose, fructose, sucrose or table sugar which are added to processed foods and drinks. They do not cover sugar found naturally in fresh fruit, vegetables and milk.

“The reason we are focusing on sugar is that we really have seen the important association with weight gain and obesity is a major public health concern for many countries – an increasing concern,” said the director of WHO’s department of nutrition for health and development, Dr Francesco Branca.

The current average consumption in South America is 130g per adult per day; in North and Central America it’s 95g; in Western Europe it’s about 101g; and in the Middle East it’s 90g – according to Branca. Equatorial and southern Africa has the lowest average consumption at just 30g.

“Actually, it is very easy to exceed the recommendation of 12 teaspoons if you think of maybe having a bowl of breakfast cereal in the morning, then maybe you have a can of soda sometime during the day, then you have for dinner a sweetened yogurt – you are already above the 10 per cent,” added Branca. “You are already at approximately 15 teaspoons.”

One can of sugar-sweetened soda contains up to 40g – around 10 teaspoons – of sugar, while orange and apple juices have between 24-26g.

The global beverage industry’s International Council of Beverages Association, including the American Beverage Association – which includes members such as Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo – issued a statement saying it is disappointed by WHO’s recommendations “as it does not reflect scientific agreement on the totality of evidence.”

In March 2014, however, WHO warned that ‘obese’ and ‘overweight’ body shapes are set to become “the new norm” throughout Europe due to a “deadly” epidemic of physical inactivity and diets high in sugar.

The UK Health Forum, in collaboration with the WHO’s regional office for Europe, predicted – in May last year – three quarters of British men will be overweight or obese by 2030 because of current levels of inactivity and poor diets.

• To read an in-depth analysis of what the wellness industry can be doing to tackle the sugar epidemic – first published in the magazine, click
here.