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Action on Sugar

Recommended intake

Sugars can be an unnecessary and unhealthy source of calories, and health experts are becoming ever more concerned about the issues associated directly with excessive sugar consumption. The incidence of obesity and type 2 diabetes, along with the potentially serious consequences of these diseases, is rapidly increasing. There is a direct link between consumption of free sugars and dental caries as well as a link between consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and type 2 diabetes.  There is a possible link between consuming excess sugars and high blood pressure, some cancers and non-alcoholic liver disease.

Even if you are slim and appear to be healthy, consuming too much sugar can still have serious effects on your health and these issues may only appear later in life.  It is particularly important to try and reduce the amount of free sugars that children consume. Children can grow accustomed to a diet high in free sugars, and this habit will then be harder for them to break. It is therefore important to try and cut down, where possible, and opt for healthier low-sugar alternatives that can be just as tasty.

Various health organisations have recently issued recommendations for maximum free sugars intake, these include, the World Health Organisation (WHO), the UK Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) and the American Heart Association.

The UK government recommends that we reduce our sugar intakes to around 5% of daily energy – around 30g or 7 teaspoons/cubes for an average adult. This is the equivalent of a small glass of fruit juice and a flavoured yoghurt per day. The recommendation for children is of 24g/day (6 sugar cubes) for children aged 7-11 years and of 19g/day (5 sugar cubes) for children aged 4-6 years. There's no guideline limit for children under the age of 4, but it's recommended they avoid sugar-sweetened drinks and food with sugar added to it. 

Read the NHS guidelines on sugar intake.



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