Curb sugar intake to reduce ‘costly burden’ of tooth decay

Medical researchers have claimed that people should get no more than three per cent of their daily calories from sugars.

Current World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations state that adults should get no more than 10 per cent of their daily calories from “free” sugars.

And the NHS says that “added sugar” such as sucrose, hydrolysed starch and honey should not make up more than 10 per cent of the total calories people get from food and drink each day.

But researchers from University College London (UCL) and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said five per cent should be the absolute maximum, with people aiming for a target of just three per cent.

The comments come after they examined public health records from countries across the world in order to assess diets and dental health of large populations of both adults and children.

They found that sugar intake which accounted for 10 per cent of energy intake, or calories, “induces a costly burden of caries (tooth decay)”.

Study author Aubrey Sheiham, emeritus professor of dental public health at UCL, said: “Tooth decay is a serious problem worldwide and reducing sugars intake makes a huge difference.

“Data from Japan were particularly revealing, as the population had no access to sugar during or shortly after the Second World War. We found that decay was hugely reduced during this time, but then increased as they began to import sugar again.

“Similarly, only two per cent of people at all ages living in Nigeria had tooth decay when their diet contained almost no sugar, around 2g per day. This is in stark contrast to the USA, where 92 per cent of adults have experienced tooth decay.”

The authors recommended a series of steps health officials could take to reduce sugar intakes including sugar taxes and reforms to food packet labelling.