You do not always know you’re eating too much until the crash. Still, you probably ate too much sugar long before that.

How Much Sugar Is Safe?

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that men eat no more than 9 teaspoons of added sugar per day and 6 teaspoons per day for women. Of course, they don’t make it easy. Nutrition labels do not measure quantities in teaspoons. They measure it in grams. Let me do the math for you.

1 teaspoon = 4 grams

This means men should have no more than 36 grams of added sugar per day and woman no more than 24 grams. To bring this into perspective, one 12 oz can of Coca Cola has 39 grams, easily exceeding the entire day’s allowance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) takes it a step further. They currently recommend that 5% or less of your daily calories come from added sugar.

Hiding the Sweet Stuff

This does not mean that all carbohydrates are bad. Fiber, for example, is a good carbohydrate. The bad guys are the added sugars, even if they are from what some people would consider to be a healthier source, like honey.

Unfortunately, U.S. nutrition labels did not make it easy to keep track of things. They put a percentage of recommended daily allowances (RDA) on everything EXCEPT sugar.

It’s not hard to see why. Many products would have to tell you that a single serving of their product exceeds the daily recommendation. The can of soda would read 111% of the daily recommended allowance for sugar in men or 167% for women. The food industry doesn’t want you to know, and the food industry is BIG business.

Added Sugar on Nutrition Labels

The U.S. nutrition labels changed in 2016 but not everyone may be familiar with them. Not all products with Added Sugars, specifically those with pure honey, pure maple syrup, dried cranberries, or other cranberry products, had to add that info to the label until 2021.

Sugars used to be listed under Total Carbohydrates. Without a breakdown, it was hard to know how much sugar was natural to the product vs. how much was added to it. Now not only are Sugars listed under Total Carbs, the Added Sugars are teased out too.

People will likely misinterpret the % Daily Value though. It’s another number in a sea of numbers. Unlike vitamins and minerals, the FDA is not recommending that you eat a certain amount of Added Sugar each day. If you eat none, more power to you! Instead, it is setting a cap on it.

The FDA recommends not exceeding 50 grams daily for someone eating a 2,000 calorie diet. This number is higher than what is recommended by the American Heart Association. Still, this is in line with the 2015—2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommendation not to consume more than 10% of your total daily calories from Added Sugar (2,000 calories x 10% = 200 calories of Added Sugar; 4 calories per gram in Added Sugar = 200/4 = 50 grams).

The Bottom Line

Don’t make it harder than it has to be. Just check the label and add it up. Try not to go over 50 grams per day, less if your diet is supposed to be under 2,000 calories. Being aware is the first step.