Açúcar Diário (limite OMS 5%/10%)

WHO added-sugar limit: 10% of calories (ideally 5%)

The World Health Organization guideline from 2015 says to keep free sugars below 10% of daily calories, which works out to about 50 g on a 2,000 kcal diet. There's also a conditional recommendation of <5% (≈ 25 g, roughly 6 teaspoons) if you want extra protection against caries and weight gain. The rule covers added sugar (sucrose, glucose, syrups, honey, juice concentrates). It does not count sugars that occur naturally in whole fruit, vegetables and unsweetened milk. Take a 350 mL can of cola as an example: at ≈ 37 g of sugar (≈ 10 teaspoons), one can on its own blows past the 5% target and uses up 75% of the 10% ceiling. Here in Brazil the POF/IBGE survey puts the average added-sugar intake at ≈ 14% of calories, well over what the WHO suggests. Formula: grams = (kcal · 0.10) / 4.

Applications: obesity prevention, type 2 diabetes, public health, labeling

You'll find this limit behind childhood obesity prevention programs (school feeding, ECA, the Brazilian Children's Statute), type 2 diabetes and dental caries prevention, plus front-of-pack nutrition labeling. ANVISA's RDC 429/2020 requires the black magnifying-glass warning "alto em açúcar adicionado" on packaged foods that go over the cut-offs (≥ 15 g per 100 g solid / ≥ 7.5 g per 100 mL liquid). The same 10%/5% targets show up in sugar-sweetened beverage taxes (Mexico, UK, Portugal) and in the WHO SHAKE package.

FAQ

Does fruit sugar count? No. Sugar locked inside whole fruit isn't a "free sugar". Fruit juice, on the other hand, does count, even at 100% with nothing added, because juicing breaks up the fiber matrix.

And honey or coconut sugar? Both count as free sugars under the WHO definition. Metabolically they behave a lot like refined sugar.

Why is 5% only "conditional"? The evidence for the added benefit (less caries) is strong but mostly observational, and the WHO labels it conditional mainly because hitting that target across a whole population is harder to pull off.

Sweeteners replace sugar in the limit? Non-caloric sweeteners don't add to your sugar count, though the WHO (2023) recommends against leaning on them for long-term weight control.