New sugar guidelines.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has just published a guideline that recommends that in time the maximum consumption of free sugars be less than six teaspoons a day – or no more than five percent of the total daily energy intake.
This has been acclaimed by global health experts as a support to reducing the rapidly increasing obesity rates across the world, the food industry worldwide generally is worried. This includes the Australian Beverages Council, which has more than 120 members.
Geoff Parker, the Council’s CEO, said; “With a public health challenge as serious and complex as obesity, we must ensure that policy decisions focused on public health are based on the best scientific evidence, which this recommendation is not.”
Professor Mark Wahlqvist, Emeritus Professor of Medicine at Monash University and Director of the Fuli Institute at Zhejiang University, China, said; “When in excess, free sugars reduce the potential to achieve the dietary diversity we need for optimal health. Some sweetness in the diet can help achieve diversity, but that is best coming from a variety of fruits, not fruit juices or extracts.”
Bill Shrapnel, consultant nutritionist and an advisor to the Sugar Research Advisory Service, said; “Average adult intakes of free sugars in Australia are currently about 10 per cent of calories; in children the figure is a little higher. So the overall message is that some people need to cut down their sugar intake a bit. As these beverages are typically low in nutrients they are the logical target to achieve sugar reduction in those with high intakes. Replacing sugar-sweetened beverages with drinks containing non-nutritive sweeteners is an effective way of lowering sugar intake, without the challenge of behaviour change.”
It is a recommendation that has many talking, and it will be interesting to see what impact it will have on the Food Standards Code.
The Guidelines can be found at – http://www.who.int/publications/en/
Written by Rachelle Williams, The Green Food Safety Coach.