Daily Sugar Intake Calculator
How much sugar per day is OK for you? Get your personal added-sugar limit in grams, teaspoons, and sugar cubes — WHO and AHA guidelines applied to your own calories.
2,000 kcal is the standard label reference for adults.
Free/added sugars only — sugar naturally in whole fruit, vegetables, and plain milk doesn't count. Track today against this limit →
How your daily sugar limit is calculated
There is no single official "sugar allowance" — there are two widely used guidelines, and this calculator shows you both:
- WHO guideline (2015): keep free sugars under 10% of total energy intake, with a conditional recommendation to go under 5% for additional health benefits. Sugar has 4 calories per gram, so on 2,000 kcal/day that's 50 g and 25 g respectively.
- American Heart Association: cap added sugars at about 100 kcal/day (≈25 g) for women and 150 kcal/day (≈36 g) for men — fixed numbers rather than percentages.
If you don't know your daily calories, the "estimate for me" mode uses the Mifflin–St Jeor equation — the formula clinical dietitians default to — to estimate your maintenance calories from sex, age, height, weight, and activity, then applies the WHO percentages to that.
Which number should you aim for?
Treat the WHO 10% figure as your ceiling and the 5% figure as your target. If you're currently far above the ceiling (most people are), don't jump straight to the target — cutting your single biggest source, usually a drink, is a more sustainable first step. Our Sugar Swap Finder suggests the swap with the biggest gram savings.
Once you have your number, the point is to see your days against it — that's what the Sugar Intake Tracker appdoes in about thirty seconds a day.
Frequently asked questions
How much sugar per day is recommended?+
The WHO recommends keeping free sugars under 10% of daily calories, and ideally under 5% — about 50 g and 25 g respectively on a 2,000-calorie diet. The American Heart Association suggests no more than about 25 g (6 teaspoons) of added sugar per day for women and 36 g (9 teaspoons) for men.
What counts as 'free' or 'added' sugar?+
Free sugars are all sugars added to foods and drinks by manufacturers, cooks, or you — plus the sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, and fruit juice. Sugar naturally contained in whole fruit, vegetables, and plain milk does not count toward the limit.
Why does the calculator ask for my calories?+
The WHO limits are percentages of energy intake, not fixed numbers: 10% (and ideally 5%) of your daily calories. Someone eating 1,600 kcal has a lower sugar ceiling than someone eating 2,800 kcal, so a personal calorie figure gives a more honest limit than the generic 2,000-kcal assumption.
Is 25 grams of sugar a lot?+
It's about 6 teaspoons — and easy to hit fast: one 330 ml can of cola has roughly 35 g, already past the limit. That's exactly why the WHO's ideal target of 25 g surprises most people the first time they track a normal day.
Do these limits apply to people with diabetes?+
No — these are population guidelines for generally healthy adults. If you have diabetes, prediabetes, or another condition affected by sugar intake, your clinician's individual targets override anything a general calculator gives you.
Now track it daily
Knowing the number is step one — seeing it every day is what changes it. Sugar Intake Tracker, our iOS app in development, logs added sugar from a photo of your food: snap it, confirm the AI estimate, done.
Meet the appAI estimate · You confirm · Your log stays on your device