Fitness Goal - Sugar

TableSauce

MyFitnessPal is suggesting that my micronutrient goal for sugar is 79g. Please could someone explain this as I believe that the RDA for sugar per day is around 30g?

KrissFlavored

Myfitnesspal does not distinguish between different kinds of sugar

AnnPT77

Most product labels don't distinguish added sugar from inherent sugar (like the sugar in an apple). Most health authorities (WHO, USDA, NHS, etc.) suggest we limit intake of added sugar, but are less concerned (unconcerned, even) about inherent sugars.

If you read their detailed explanations for recommending limiting added sugar, there seem to be 3 main issues:

1. Sugar is not very filling, so it's easy to go over a sensible number of calories if eating ad libitum to satiation, when eating lots of added sugar, en route to getting adequate nutrition.
2. If one is calorie counting, but eating lots of added sugar, it can be difficult to get adequate nutrition within a sensible number of calories, because the calorie-dense sugar may not leave room for all the needed other nutrititon.
3. Sugar is associated with certain problems like dental cavities.

If you're calorie counting, you have a calorie goal. Calorie compliance is pretty much the only direct determinant of weight gain/loss/maintenance, especially in the short run. (In the long run, under-nutrition can result in poor satiation, so trouble complying with calorie goal; or under-nutrition can result in fatigue, so lowered daily life activity, and reduced exercise intensity, so lower calorie expenditure. Either of those can indirectly affect weight management.)

Nutrition is mainly about health. (Most of us want to be healthy, not just a good weight, right? ) For good nutrition, IMO it matters much more what we put into our eating, than what we exclude from it. (I mean, as long as we're not eating things that are poisonous, aggravate a personal health condition, or to which we're allergic, or something like that.)

So, for nutrition, it's important to get a sensible minimum of protein, healthy fats, and plenty of varied, colorful fruits and veggies for fiber and micronutrients. For weight management, it's important to eat a sensible number of calories. Do both those things, and (1) it'll be hard to simulataneously eat a lot of added sugar, unless you're an endurance athlete (in which case you need it anyway), and (2) the amount of sugar you do eat in that context is IMO really not a big deal.

TableSauce

Thank you for your replies. Very insightful information.