The Importance of the World Health Organization Sugar Guidelines for Dental Health and Obesity Prevention

Research output: Contribution to journalReviewpeer-review

  • Joao Breda
  • Jo Jewell
  • Amélie Keller

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a reduced intake of free sugars throughout the life course (strong recommendation) with a reduction of free sugars intake to less than 10% of the total energy intake (strong recommendation) and preferably below 5% of the total energy intake (conditional recommendation) in both adults and children. Available data clearly show that people already consume significantly more sugar than they should, increasing the risk for dental caries, overweight and obesity. The WHO recommendations are intended for use by the policy makers as a benchmark for assessing intake of sugars by populations and as a driving force for policy change. To create a favorable environment, enabling the overall amount of free sugar intake to be as low as possible and to reduce the frequency of consumption of sugar-rich foods, a range of public health interventions is advised.

Original languageEnglish
JournalCaries Research
Volume53
Issue number2
Pages (from-to)149-152
Number of pages4
ISSN0008-6568
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes

    Research areas

  • Dental health, Non-communicable disease, Obesity, Sugar

Number of downloads are based on statistics from Google Scholar and www.ku.dk


No data available

ID: 235964763