New Sugar Guideline Released: 5% of Calories Should Come From Sugar

A new study released by the World Health Organization suggests that your daily sugar intake should be just 5 percent of your total calories, which is half of what the agency previously recommended ten years ago. That includes sugars added to foods and present in honey, syrups and fruit juices, but it excludes natural sugar found in fruits.

The new draft of guidelines were published Wednesday after WHO experts reviewed about 9,000 studies and concluded that dropping sugar intake to that level will combat obesity and cavities.

"We should aim for 5 percent if we can ... but 10 percent is more realistic," said Dr. Francesco Branca, WHO's director for nutrition, according to the Associated Press.

However, most Americans consume much more sugar than that, which means their average sugar intake would have to drop by two-thirds to meet WHO's new recommendation.

Sugar has about 4 calories per gram and 15 calories per teaspoon. Under the 5 percent guideline, a person who takes in 2000 calories a day would have to limit eating sugar to 25 grams. However, a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola has 35 grams of sugar compared to one Oreo cookie, which has 4.5 grams. WHO also notes that many of sugars are hidden in processed foods, making note that one tablespoon of ketchup is equivalent to one teaspoon of sugar.

"The less sugar you're eating, the better," said Dr. Robert Lustig, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California. "If the sugar threshold is lowered, I think breakfast cereal is going to have a really hard time justifying its existence," he said, referring to sweetened cereals often targeted at children.

WHO's expert group also found that high sugar consumption is strongly linked to obesity and tooth decay.