What is a suitable amount of sugar when trying to lose weight?

High-sugar intake can lead to weight gain and increase a person’s risk of developing obesity. If a person wants to lose weight then they may wish to reduce the amount of sugar in their dietary plan to less than 5% of their total calorie intake.

Medical professionals often split sugars into natural sugars and added sugars.

Natural sugars are naturally present in foods. Fructose is the term for natural sugars in fruit. Lactose is the term for natural sugars in dairy products. Added sugars are sugars that people add to food and drinks when they are processing or preparing them.

A number of health organizations recommend that a person limits the amount of added sugars they consume. This can help with weight loss efforts.

There is no exact amount of sugar that a person should aim to consume to help with weight loss.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) a person should reduce the amount of sugar in their dietary pattern to less than 10% of their total calorie intake. The WHO add that reducing to 5% could provide additional health benefits. Adults typically require between 1,600 and 3,000 calories per day. For a person consuming 2,000 calories, this would equate to less than 200, or 100 calories from sugar per day.

One of the benefits of reducing sugar to this level is that it may help with weight loss efforts. This is because high-sugar dietary plans can cause weight gain and fat storage. These can lead to overweight or obesity.

One 2021 review of a number of studies states that replacing added sugar with low- and no-calorie sweeteners can help with weight loss.

According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans people who are 2 years old or over should ensure that added sugar makes up less than 10% of their total daily calories.

This means that if an adult consumes 2,000 calories in one day, less than 200 of those calories should come from added sugars. Roughly 12 teaspoons of sugar equals 200 calories.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on average, an adult male consumes around 19 teaspoons of added sugar per day and adult females consume 15 teaspoons of added sugar per day.

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans also state that people under 2 years old should not consume any added sugars.

According to the American Heart Association (AHA), there are no nutritional benefits to added sugars. Medical professionals associate high sugar intake with a number of different health risks, including:

There are a number of steps a person can take to reduce the added sugar in their dietary plan.

If a person wants to reduce the added sugar in they consume, they should avoid consuming food and drinks that are high in added sugar. Common foods and drinks that are high in added sugar include:

A person should read the nutrition facts on food labels. This can help them understand how much added sugar is in the food they are buying.

They should also look at the ingredients list. There are a number of added sugars that a person should look for. These include:

Nutrition labels on food and drink packaging inform consumers about what they are eating. In some cases people may find food labels confusing. Here are some key steps to help a person understand nutrition labels.

The serving size on a nutrition label indicates the amount that a person will consume per serving. Nutrient values present on the label will then correspond to this particular serving size.

A label may also outline the number of servings present in the package.

Calories offer a measure of the amount of energy contained in a serving of food.

A nutrition label will outline the number of calories present in each serving of the food or drink. This helps a person manage their energy intake, which is helpful for people who are monitoring their weight.

Nutrition labels will also outline the amounts of key nutrients present in a serving of the food or drink. This helps a person to select foods or drinks that provide more of the specific nutrients they need.

The daily value of a nutrient is the amount of that nutrient that a person should consume or not exceed each day. This is based on a 2,000-calorie dietary plan.

The percent daily value outlines the percentage of that daily value for each nutrient present in a serving of the food or drink.

The label may display this daily value in grams (g), milligrams (mg), or micrograms (mcg).

High-sugar dietary plans can cause weight gain and obesity. Cutting sugar can help with weight loss.

Natural sugars are present in fruit and dairy products. Added sugars are sugars that people put into food and drinks during processing or cooking. Health experts advise limiting added sugars.

The WHO suggests that a person reduces the amount of sugar in their dietary intake to less than 5% of their total calorie intake. Too much sugar in a dietary plan can lead to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, tooth decay, and weight gain.