| Markets | European Union |
| Organization | European Food Safety Authority |
| Topic | Additives, nutrition and organic foods |
EFSA’s scientists have completed their comprehensive safety assessment of sugars in the diet and their potential links to health problems. The opinion’s rich findings will support national public health authorities in Europe update future advice for their consumers. Prof. Dominique Turck, the Chair of EFSA’s panel of nutrition experts who carried out the assessment, stated: “We concluded that intakes of added and free sugars should be as low as possible as part of a nutritionally adequate diet; this is in line with current recommendations. However, the scientific evidence did not allow us to set a tolerable upper intake level for dietary sugars, which was the original goal of this assessment.” Added sugars’ are refined sugars used in food preparation and as table sugar. ‘Free sugars’ includes ‘added sugars’ plus those naturally present in honey and syrups, as well as in fruit and vegetable juices and juice concentrates.