How many grams of sugar per day?

batyc2

I've read from several sources online that one should try to keep their daily sugar between 30-40grams. However, myfitnesspal is recommending I can have up to 59 grams per day on a 1580 calorie diet. Isn't this a bit much?

teagirlmedium

I have heard lower amounts and higher ones. It depends where you look. To maintain I should be taking about 16 teaspoons according to myfitnesspal.

lemurcat12

I don't know where the 30-40 gram number is from, but so far as I know it's usually given as a percentage of calories (for example, the WHO recommendation of 5% of total calories (although that doesn't assume you are on a calorie deficit or counting calories and one of the reasons is to avoid excess calories which doesn't apply).

More significantly, most of these recommendations refer to "added sugar" or "free sugar" (in other words, they don't include the sugar that is in fruit and plain dairy). The MFP limit includes those. It's also based on a percentage of calories (15%) and if you are at a low limit like 1200 calories it's only 45 grams, and IME I can hit around 45 grams with only one piece of fruit plus a bunch of veggies (I eat a lot of veggies, however).

Obviously, you can stay under it if you want to, but given that the US Dietary Guidelines actually say that Americans eat too little fruit on average, I don't think focusing so much on a rather arbitrary sugar number is that helpful. The WHO says that added sugar should be a small portion of calories (they mostly mean sweet treats that contribute nothing much besides energy), because they are easy to overeat while people neglect more nutritious foods. IMO, it's pretty easy to look at your day and see if you've mostly eaten nutrient dense foods or have been eating a disproportionate number of other things, and it's easy to see where you are with your calories and macro goals also.

Obviously if you have a health issue that involves sugar you should follow your doctor's advice.

jgnatca

The WHO recommends no more than 12 teaspoons of "free sugar" which would not include the sugars in fruit.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2015/sugar-guideline/en/

There is no way currently to distinguish between "free sugars" and the rest because labelling does not distinguish either.

lemurcat12

Well, there is a way to distinguish yourself, for the most part, but it's not distinguished on labels, which is why I think just looking at your diary provides more information that the total sugar grams.

It's impossible to sort it out in certain kinds of packaged food (like if you buy pasta sauce in a jar, I guess), but if you eat an apple or plain yogurt or a chocolate chip cookie, you can pretty easily figure it out. ;-)

RodaRose

Consider the sugar content of these foods:
tomato: 6 grams
medium banana: 14 grams
apple: 19 grams
Veggies like peppers, carrots, onions, corn -- these also have sugar.

Do you plan to take these out???

Unknown

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