WHO: Daily sugar intake 'should be halved'

People will be advised to halve the amount of sugar in their diet, under new World Health Organization guidance, the BBC reports. 

Recommended levels of sugar will stay at below 10% of total calorie intake a day, but 5% should be the target, says the WHO.

The draft guidance will be put out for public consultation.

The suggested limits apply to all sugars added to food, as well as sugar naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates.

The recommendation that sugar should account for no more than 10% of the calories in the diet, was passed by the WHO more than a decade ago.

It works out at about 50g a day for an adult of normal weight.

However, a number of experts now think 10% is too high, amid rising obesity levels around the world.

Announcing the new measures, the WHO said in a statement: "WHO's current recommendation, from 2002, is that sugars should make up less than 10% of total energy intake per day.

"The new draft guideline also proposes that sugars should be less than 10% of total energy intake per day.

"It further suggests that a reduction to below 5% of total energy intake per day would have additional benefits."

Dr Francesco Branca, the WHO's director, Nutrition for Health and Development, told a news conference that the 10% target was a "strong recommendation" while the 5% target was "conditional", based on current evidence.

"We should aim for 5% if we can," he added.

A review of the link between sugar intake and tooth decay, carried out by UK researchers, found cases of tooth decay were lower when sugar made up less than 10% of daily calories.

Paula Moynihan, Professor of Nutrition and Oral Health at Newcastle University, said: "The less sugar you eat, the lower your risk of dental decay."

Commenting on the new recommendation, Prof Tom Sanders of the School of Medicine, King's College London, said a limit of 5% added sugar "would be very tough to meet".

He added: "5% is untried and untested; 10% we can live with."

Dr Nita Forouhi, of the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, said the 5% target was "ambitious, and challenging".

The news came after a leading doctor called for a tax on sugar to help combat growing levels of obesity.

On Tuesday, Dame Sally Davies, England's Chief Medical Officer, told MPs she believed "research will find sugar is addictive".

She said: "We may need to move toward some kind of sugar tax, but I hope we don't have to. We have normalized being overweight. I do fear this generation of children will live less than my parents' generation."