Monitoring sugar in your dietSugar and health

Use the FSA's traffic-light scheme to help you choose low-sugar products

The government does not yet recommend the amount of total sugars you should consume each day, but we support the Food Standards Agency’s multiple traffic-light labelling scheme.

This shows what it considers are high, medium and low amounts of sugar, fat, saturated fat and salt in individual products, on the front of packs.

It focuses on processed foods or those made of several ingredients, such as sandwiches, ready meals and cereals. The FSA has asked the government advisory body, the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition, to review sugar in our diets, so guidance on maximum daily amounts should be on its way.

FSA traffic-light scheme

High

• Food: more than 15g per 100g or more than 18g if the portion is more than 100g.
• Drink: more than 7.5g per 100ml.

Medium

• Food: more than 5g and up to 15g per 100g.
• Drink: up to 7.5g per 100ml.

Low

• Food: 5g per 100g or less.
• Drink: 2.5g per 100ml or less.

Avoiding added sugar may be difficult, but scrutinising labels and swapping snack bars that are high in added sugar for fruit will help you and your family have a healthier diet.

Artificial sweeteners

There have been safety concerns about saccharin and aspartame

Low-sugar or sugar-free alternatives of many foods and drinks are available – these will often contain an artificial sweetener such as saccharin, aspartame or acesulfame-k. There has been concern about the safety of both saccharin and aspartame.

Studies in the 1980s found saccharin could cause bladder cancer in rats and it was banned in Canada, but the World Health Organisation now accepts that, based on data currently available, the effects shown in rats were not relevant to humans.

More recently, an Italian study linked aspartame with some cancers in rats. The European Food Safety Authority evaluated the study and concluded that, on the basis of data currently available, aspartame is fit for human consumption.