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Research has shown that eating too much sugar can have negative effects on your health, like raising your risk for diabetes, depression, obesity, heart disease, certain cancers, and gout.
While it’s clear you want to avoid too much sugar, it’s less clear just how much sugar you can enjoy and still support your health.
American adults consume an average of 77 grams of sugar per day. Data shows that sugar-sweetened beverages (e.g., soft drinks, fruit juices, and sports/energy drinks) are the biggest source of added sugars in Americans’ diets.
According to a new study, there’s a research-backed limit that you can follow for your daily added sugar intake: 25 grams, or about 6 teaspoons. Here’s what experts say about limiting your sugar intake.
To figure out how much sugar people can enjoy a day without having a major negative effect on their health, researchers did a review of meta-analyses on available studies.
The researchers looked at the findings from 73 previous meta-analyses, which showed the harmful links between sugar consumption and hormonal and metabolic diseases, heart disease, cancer, asthma, tooth decay, depression, and premature death.
The findings from the review showed that:
Six teaspoons a day is about 24 grams/100 calories of added sugar per day. However, not all the sugar in your diet is the same.
Remember that added or “free” sugars are not the same as the natural sugar found in fruit or dairy—those naturally-occurring sugars do not count toward the daily limit.
Based on the findings, the researchers recommended that people limit their intake of sugar-sweetened beverages to no more than one per week (about one 12-ounce can) and keep their daily intake of added sugar to under 25 grams (about 6 teaspoons).
While the findings were based on observational data, they line up with guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), World Cancer Research Fund, and American Institute for Cancer Research—all of which support the 6-teaspoons-per-day limit.
“Limiting added sugars to 6 teaspoons per day is not at all surprising because this has been the American Heart Association (AHA)’s standard for years,” Lauren Harris-Pincus, MS, RDN, founder of Nutrition Starring YOU, told Verywell. “Consuming excess sugars means we either are consuming too many calories beyond our needs leading to additional weight gain, or we are missing out on key nutrients because the foods we choose are higher in sugar and calories displacing foods we need to prevent lifestyle diseases with aging.”
You probably already know that sweet treats like cakes, cookies, candy, packaged snacks, and ice cream are sources of added sugar, but products like jarred pasta sauces, condiments, peanut butter, yogurt, granola, protein bars, cereal, coffee drinks, and fruit snacks can also have sugar added to them—and it may not be obvious.
Sugar can go by a lot of other names on a food’s nutrition label or ingredient list, so it’s important that you know what to look for. Here are just a few examples:
Experts have tried to focus their education and support efforts to limit added sugar intake on kids, as this group is especially vulnerable not just to the temptation of sweets but the product advertising and marketing that sells them.
In 2017–2018, the average daily intake of added sugars was 17 teaspoons for children and young adults between the ages of 2 and 19 years.
Caregivers have an important role to play not just in keeping an eye on kids’ sugar intake, but making sure that they think and feel positive about all the foods they eat.
When developing a healthy relationship around food, it is important to not label foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’—and this applies to sugar as well.
— Melissa Mitri, MS, RD“It is essential for families to harbor a healthy relationship around food, while still setting boundaries around sugar consumption for young children,” Melissa Mitri, MS, RD, nutrition writer and owner of Melissa Mitri Nutrition, told Verywell.
“When developing a healthy relationship around food, it is important to not label foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’—and this applies to sugar as well,” Mitri said. “It’s better to prioritize foods that are naturally sweet such as fruit and encourage sugar-filled foods in moderation as an occasional treat.”
While it’s important to start young to create life-long habits, learning about nutrition and taking steps to foster a positive relationship with food should really be a family affair.
“The most harmful approach is to single out one child with overweight or obesity and restrict their sugar intake but not for other family members,” Harris-Pincus said.
Some specific ways that Mitri recommends reducing your sugar intake include:
Eating too much added sugar is harmful to your health. Experts recommend limiting your intake of added or free sugars to six teaspoons a day. You can take steps to eat less added sugar by checking nutrition labels and ingredients lists and choosing products that are “low sugar” or have “no added sugar,” as well as cooking more meals at home.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
By Lauren Manaker MS, RDN, LD, CLEC
Manaker is a registered dietitian, lactation counselor, and author. She was named an emerging leader in women's health by the National Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
