Sugar intake

jhm57

What is the suggested amount of daily sugar intake for a man? Of this amount how much should be added sugar?

Thank you
-jhm57

lemurcat2

There is no particular recommendation for total sugar beyond not so much that you go over calories or fail to get in adequate protein, fiber, healthy fats, or other nutrients.

The usual recommendation for added (or free) sugar is not more than 10% of cals, ideally no more than 5% (although I think it's fair to average this out over a week if you prefer).

MFP has a goal of no more than 15% of total cals, but that's just based on a rough assumption of what people would normally be consuming in intrinsic sugar, and can be off for those who consume lots of fruits and veg and some dairy. It is not intended to make you stress about eating fruit or veg.

kshama2001

The WHO suggests no more than 10% of your calories come from added sugar (which they call "free sugar"), with additional benefits if you reduce this to 5%.

There is currently no way to do this automatically in MFP, but if you are in the US, big food manufactures have phased this in to labels as of last month, and many started last year, so it's not hard to do manually in a spreadsheet.

Your total sugar target is already in your MFP values. (It will vary by your weight, among other factors.) Like posted above, if you get a lot of sugar from fruits, veg, and dairy, don't stress about it, and certainly do not reduce consumption of these foods because of it.