25 Grams of Sugar a Day

The World Health Organization recommends eating no more than 25 grams of added sugar a day. The old 2002 recommendation that sugars should make up less than 10% of total energy intake per day has been lowered to 5% of total energy intake per day. The WHO claims that those who follow this lowered guidellne will see additional health benefits.* As further validation, a new study** found that people who consume 25% of their daily calories from sugar were twice as likely to die from heart disease as those who limited their sugar intake to 7% of their total calories.

The recommended sugar limit refers to added sugars (see list below), not natural sugars found in milk and vegetables. Sugars added to food by the manufacturer, the cook or the consumer, as well as sugars that are naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit concentrates should be limited.*
One teaspoon of granulated sugar equals 4 grams of sugar. So your daily allotment is 6 teaspoons of sugar.

Some Added Sugars:
agave
anhydrous dextrose
barley malt syrup
beet sugar
brown sugar
cane juice
confectioner’s powdered sugar
corn syrup
corn syrup solids
crystal dextrose
date sugar
demerara
dextrose
evaporated corn sweetener
fructose
fruit juice concentrate
fruit nectar
glucose
high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS)
honey
invert sugar
lactose
liquid fructose
maltodextrin
malt syrup
maltose
maple syrup
molasses
nectars (e.g., peach nectar, pear nectar)
pancake syrup
raw sugar
sucrose
sugar

Some food and drinks that could easily put you over the daily recommended limit:

5 grams of sugar = 2 oz. of salad dressing

6 grams of sugar = 4 tbsp. peanut butter

15 grams of sugar = 4 oz. condensed tomato soup

16 grams of sugar = 4 tbsp. ketchup

19 grams of sugar = 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream

20 grams of sugar = 1 cup of tomato sauce

21 grams of sugar = 1 crumb donut

22 grams of sugar = 8 oz. of orange juice

22 grams of sugar = 4 oz. of applesauce

23 grams of sugar = 8 oz. Greek strawberry yogurt

24 grams of sugar = 2.5 oz. barbecue sauce

24 grams of sugar = 1.55 oz. milk chocolate bar

26 grams of sugar = 6 oz. of raspberry yogurt

29 grams of sugar =  1/4 cup of dried cranberries

32 grams of sugar = 1 Vitamin Water

34 grams of sugar = 12 oz. whole milk hot chocolate

39 grams of sugar = 12 oz. Cola

39 grams of sugar = 12 oz. iced tea

40 grams of sugar = 12 oz. can of lemonade

43 grams of sugar = 12 oz. Orange Soda

46 grams of sugar = 12 oz. of Mountain Dew

49 grams of sugar = 1 Apple Crumb Donut

55 grams of sugar = 15.2 oz. Odwalla

The products below were used for sugar content figures:

Both Kraft Thousand Island Fat Free & Newman’s Honey Mustard Lite
Jiff Regular Peanut Butter
Campbell’s Tomato Bisque Soup
Heinz Ketchup
Ben & Jerry’s vanilla ice cream
Tropicana Pure Premium Original
Mott’s Original Applesauce
Chobani Blended Strawberry Greek Yogurt
Bull’s Eye – Barbecue Sauce – Original
Craisins Original Dried Cranberries
Yoplait Original
Entenmann’s Crumb Donut
Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar
Vitamin Water (raspberry-Apple, acai-blueberry-pomegranate, etc)
Starbucks Hot Chocolate Topped with whipped cream
Coco-Cola Classic
Minute Maid Lemonade
Snapple Peach or Lemon Iced Tea
Sunkist Orange Soda
Mountain Dew
Dunkin’ Donuts Apple Crumb Donut
Odwalla Mango Tango Fruit smoothie blend

* www.who.int
**Added Sugar Intake and Cardiovascular Diseases Mortality Among US Adults
Quanhe Yang, PhD; Zefeng Zhang, MD, PhD; Edward W. Gregg, PhD; W. Dana Flanders, MD, ScD; Robert Merritt, MA; Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD