Recommended diet: How sweet it isn't

LONDON — People should get no more than 10 percent of their calories from sugar, experts say in a new report today on how to stem the global epidemic of obesity-linked diseases.

The study is the most significant in more than a decade on what the world should be doing about its diet. Although concerns about sugar intake are not new, very few experts have recommended a specific limit.

The food industry immediately decried the document, insisting more exercise is the key to ending obesity.

The report was commissioned by two United Nations agencies, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and compiled by a panel of 30 international experts.

The experts say heart disease, diabetes and other diseases that can be caused by poor diet and lack of exercise are no longer just the preserve of the West.

The report underlines what doctors have been saying for years — that along with regular exercise, a diet low in fatty, sugary and salty food is key to staying healthy.

The experts recommend one hour of daily exercise, double the amount recommended by the U.S. government but the same as that endorsed by other establishments. Their recommendations on how much fat, grains, protein, salt and fruits and vegetables people should eat were in line with prevailing opinion.

But when it came to sugar, their advice was some of the boldest yet.

The experts said people should restrict their consumption of added sugar — including sugar naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices — to below 10 percent of calories.

In the United States, which leads the world in obesity, the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans advise only that sugar should be used in moderation. The Institute of Medicine, part of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, recommended in September that sugar could constitute up to 25 percent of calories.

"There are very few international recommendations on sugar," said Derek Yach, chief of non-communicable diseases at WHO. "There are countries that are trying to develop recommendations on sugar, but every time they introduce them, the pressure from industry-led groups is very high."

Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force and one of the scientists on the panel, said the report presents the food industry with one of its biggest challenges.

"Despite all the attempts so far to increase the provision of healthier choices over the last 10 or more years, obesity rates have accelerated," he said. "The food industry must now sit down with WHO and others to work out how to seriously address this issue and become part of the solution rather than part of the problem."

The U.S. National Soft Drink Association said a 10 percent limit on sugar should not be part of the plan.

"A thorough review of scientific literature ... shows there is no association between sugar consumption and obesity," said Richard Adamson, the association's vice president of scientific and technical affairs.

Rapid changes in diets and lifestyles resulting from industrialization, urbanization, economic development and global food trade have accelerated in the past decade, the report said. That has meant improved standards of living in poorer countries but also has led to inappropriate shifts in eating and exercise patterns and a corresponding increase in diet-related chronic diseases, the experts found.

Scientists predict that heart disease will be the leading cause of death in developing countries by the end of the decade. Obesity rates are also increasing more rapidly in developing countries than in rich nations, and two-thirds of the people with Type 2 diabetes — the type related to bad eating and exercise habits — live in the developing world.

Information in this article, originally published March 3, was corrected March 10. A previous version of this story had an incorrect fact. World Health Organization experts advise that consumption of all sugars be kept below 10 percent of calories. In an article March 3, The Associated Press erroneously reported that WHO experts said people should restrict their consumption of sugar not naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices to below 10 percent of calories.