Science - Reuters
U.N. Urges Sugar Limit for Healthier Living
ROME (Reuters) - People should get no more than 10 percent of their calories from sugar, eat more fruit and vegetables and exercise moderately to cut risks of chronic disease, two U.N. agencies said on Monday.

A new report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and World Health Organisation (WHO) gave advice to governments on diet and lifestyle to combat increases in chronic illnesses such as heart disease, cancers, diabetes and obesity.

"Carbohydrates, the report suggests, should provide the bulk of energy requirements -- between 55 and 75 percent of daily intake, and free sugars should remain beneath 10 percent," the FAO and WHO said in a statement.

"Protein should make up a further 10-15 percent of calorie intake and salt should be restricted to less than five grams a day," it added.

"Intake of fruit and vegetables should be plumped up to reach at least 400 grams a day."

The burden of chronic diseases is rapidly increasing worldwide, FAO and WHO said.

In 2001, chronic diseases contributed some 59 percent of the 56.5 million total reported deaths in the world and 46 percent of the global burden of disease, they said.

"This expert report contains the best currently available scientific evidence on the relationship of diet, nutrition and physical activity to chronic diseases," said Ricardo Uauy, professor of public health nutrition at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who helped prepare the report.

The report recommended:

-- reducing energy-rich foods high in saturated fat and sugar;

-- cutting the amount of salt and increasing the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in the diet;

-- undertaking moderate physical activity for at least an hour a day.

Energy consumed each day should match energy expenditure, the report said.

"Evidence suggests that excessive consumption of energy-rich foods can encourage weight gain, the report said and called for a limit in the consumption of saturated fats, sugars and salt in the diet, noting they are often found in snacks, processed foods and drinks," the U.N. agencies said.

They still do not recognize the harm from complex carbohydrates like bread, rice and pasta!

At least they are finally recognizing that people eat way too much sugar. It's out of control.

Maybe with these recommendations, we will be able to get more products that are sugar free. Right now it's a challenge getting ANYTHING that doesn't contain sugar.

Different version of the story from another source: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Living/ap20030303_133.html

This part really makes me mad:


Can you believe this?!? Sounds just like the tobacco industry insisting that cigarettes don't cause cancer!

Here is the National Soft Drink Association's collection of studies. They are trying to argue against another published study that claims soft drinks are key to obesity in children.

I agree that mostly, we should be glad that sugar is being addressed. It is a change for the better. It has hardly been a topic and sugar is being added to everything, even fat-free soups and savory foods, to influence the taste.

And, right on Angeline, I think we'll see it soon - more sugar free options.

Also I thought about the poor people who only have rice to eat so I should not have been so quick to mention rice - that is not as much of a problem as all the added sugar and soft drinks. The soft drink industry appears as bad as the tobbacco companies refusing to acknowledge harm by their products.

Here it is from another source:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993453

The bulk is the same, but there were a few other things:

The recommendations for sugar intake are much lower than those set by the US Institute of Medicine, which advises that sugar could make up to 25 per cent [!] of a person's diet.

Prentice said the panel had been prompted to set the 10 per cent limit by increasing evidence of a link between body weight gain and dietary sugar, as well as increasing tooth decay. He said
statistics showed a "horrifying" rise in soft drink consumption in developing world countries, as well as the US.

Adult obesity rates in the US have risen from 14 per cent in 1978 to 31 per cent in 2000. And rates have triples [sic] in the UK from about seven per cent in 1980 to about 22 per cent in 2001,
according to the IOTF.