LONDON — New guidelines from the World Health Organization are enough to kill anyone’s sugar high.
The U.N. health agency says people should slash sugar intake to just six to 12 teaspoons per day — an amount that could be exceeded with a single can of soda.
Americans get about 13 percent of their calories from added sugar, or 268 calories a day, the equivalent of about 18 teaspoons.
“To get down to 5 percent, you wouldn’t even be allowed to have orange juice,” said Tom Sanders, a professor of nutrition and dietetics at King’s College London who wasn’t part of the guidelines.
The guidelines, released Wednesday, finalize draft advice released last year and are focused on the added sugars in processed food, as well as those in honey, syrups and fruit juices. The advice does not apply to naturally occurring sugars in fruit, vegetables and milk.
“We have solid evidence that keeping intake of (added) sugars to less than 10 percent of total energy intake reduces the risk of overweight, obesity and tooth decay,” said Francesco Branca, director of WHO’s nutrition department.
