A customer takes a bottle of Coca-Cola from a grocery store fridge in Melbourne (Photo : Reuters )
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reconsidering a proposal to add a daily intake requirement for sugars, which would include the allowance of raw, brown, white or granulated, and powdered varieties on all prepackaged food labels. Nutrition facts on labeling would help to reduce the health risks of consuming too much added sugar, including cavities, weight gain, high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.
This proposal supplements a rule last year that revised nutrition facts labels. It is founded on the suggestion that a person's daily calorie intake from added sugars should never be over 10 percent of total daily calories.
However, shoppers had to do the math. The number would be included on food labeling based on the new proposal.
"Added sugars" do not exist naturally in foods. They are added to them when they are manufactured in factories.
FDA officials calculated that the daily upper limit of added sugar consumption for adults and kids at least four years old should be 50 grams. It equals one 16-ounce soft drink.
During the next 75 days, the FDA will open the issue for public debate, according to KMBZ. It will also reopen the 2104 proposal's two-month period.
The agency said that the new proposal is supported by other medical studies. They reveal that reducing the amount of sugar-sweetened beverages and foods in one's diet is connected to a lower cardiovascular disease risk.
However, manufacturers of foods and beverages wasted no time criticizing the FDA proposal. They claimed that the labels would confuse many consumers, and limiting daily sugar intake is not warranted by scientific studies, according to The New York Times.
