Nutrition Experts Propose New Guidelines for Daily Sugar Intake

Nutrition Experts Propose New Guidelines for Daily Sugar Intake

More action is necessary to win the

fight against caries, which affects many adults and between 60% and 90% of

school-age children. These statistics led the World Health Organization

Nutrition Guidance Advisory Group (WHONGAG) to propose new sugar dietary

guidelines in order to help reduce the financial and social burdens of tooth

decay. In the article, “A Reappraisal of the Quantitative Relationship Between Sugar

Intake and Dental Caries: the Need for New Criteria for Developing Goals for Sugar

Intake,” published by BMC Public Health

in September, researchers from the University College London (UCL) and the

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine deliver their reasoning for

reducing sugar intake to account for no more than 3% of daily energy intake.

Current guidelines propose that daily sugar intake range from 5% to 10%, or 25 g

to 50 g of free sugars. WHONGAG defines free sugars as monosaccharides and

disaccharides added to foods by the manufacturer, cook, or consumer, and the sugars

naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit concentrates.

Reducing the intake of these sugars, the study team states, will significantly

reduce the preventable oral health burdens caused by excessive sugar

consumption. 

The researchers used public health

records from countries across the world to compare the dental health and diet of

adults and children. It was discovered that the incidence of caries increased

proportionately to sugar consumption. In children, an increase from 0% sugar to

5% daily intake doubled the prevalence of this widespread disease. “Tooth decay

is a serious problem worldwide and reducing sugar intake makes a huge

difference,” says study author Aubrey Sheiham, BDS, PhD, DHC, professor

emeritus of dental public health at UCL. “Only 2% of people living in Nigeria

had tooth decay when their diet contained almost no sugar, around 2 g per day.

This is in stark contrast to the United States, where 92% of adults have

experienced tooth decay.” 

The study authors are asking the food

industry to reduce the amount of sugar used in food products. Doing so, they

argue, is crucial to improving oral health worldwide.  

Hygiene Connection E-Newsletter

October 2014