The Recommended Amount Of Sugar To Be Consumed Per Day

Some sugar occurs naturally in nutritious foods such as fruit and milk, but it can also be added to foods for extra flavor during processing or preparation. You should set a limit on how much added sugar you eat per day because foods with lots of added sugar are generally low in nutritional value and can contribute to health problems.

Risks of Too Much Sugar

Sugar allows bacteria to grow on your teeth, which can promote cavities if you frequently have sugary foods and drinks. Another problem specific to added sugars is they can fill and make you less likely to eat nutritious alternatives such as vegetables and whole grains. And while nutrients such as proteins, unsaturated fats and complex carbohydrates offer your body healthy fuel, added sugars are empty calories that can quickly expand your waistline if you don't limit your intake, according to MayoClinic.com. Excessive weight gain increases your chances of having health problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Limits

Only a small percentage of your diet should be allotted to discretionary calories, or "extras." Limit your added sugar intake to no more than half of your daily discretionary calories, recommends the American Heart Association. If you're a woman, this means you should have no more than about 100 calories or 6 tsp. of added sugar on any given day. If you're a man, your limit is about 150 calories or 9 tsp. of added sugar per day. Children have lower limits based on their daily calorie intake. Preschoolers shouldn't have more than about 64 calories or 4 tsp. of added sugar per day, and children between 4 and 8 should be limited to about 48 calories or 3 tsp. per day to accommodate their increasing nutritional requirements. Preteens and teens can have about 80 to 128 calories or 5 to 8 tsp. of sugar per day, depending on their caloric intake.

Cutting Back

The average American has about 22.2 tsp. of added sugar per day, which is nearly triple the recommended limit, according to information from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Chances are you also exceed your limit if you regularly have processed foods or drink soda. A single 12-oz. can of regular soda contains about 150 calories or 10 tsp. of sugar, so simply cutting back on one can a day can get you closer to your recommended daily limits. Another way to limit your sugar intake is to buy fresh fruits over canned fruits, cut down on sugar in baking recipes by 1/3 to ½ and avoid adding sugar to your coffee, tea and cereal.

Decoding Added Sugars

Nutrition labels on foods don't specify whether their sugars are natural or added. To determine whether a food has a lot of added sugar in it, look on the ingredient list for sugar, corn sugar, corn syrup, honey, molasses or ingredients ending in "ose." A product that has sugar high on its ingredient list is high in added sugar, according to KidsHealth from Nemours.