Daily sugar intake tops out at 25 grams for women and 36 for men

Your daily sugar intake from added sugar should stay at or under 25 grams if you're a woman and 36 grams if you're a man. That's the American Heart Association's line, and the average American adult blows past it before dinner.

So how many grams of sugar per day is that in a spoon? About 6 level teaspoons for women and 9 for men. One regular 12 ounce can of Coca-Cola holds 39 grams of sugar, which is more than either limit on its own.

The numbers only cover added sugar. The sugar that comes packed inside whole fruit, vegetables and plain milk isn't counted, which is why a banana and a candy bar get treated so differently.

What the daily sugar intake limits actually say

Three different numbers float around, and they come from three different groups. The strictest is the heart association's, summarized in this health library page: 100 calories of added sugar for women and 150 calories for men.

Women, teens and kids over 2

The cap is 100 calories a day, about 6 teaspoons or 25 grams. Children under 2 shouldn't get any added sugar at all, and kids over 2 are advised to keep sugary drinks under 8 ounces a week.

Men get a little more room

The men's cap is 150 calories, which works out to roughly 9 teaspoons or 36 grams. It's still less than a single can of regular soda.

The 50 gram label number

Nutrition labels use a looser yardstick. The FDA sets the Daily Value for added sugars at 50 grams, based on keeping them under 10 percent of a 2,000 calorie diet. That's a ceiling for the label maths, not a target to aim for.

Rule of thumb: one level teaspoon of white sugar is about 4 grams. Divide any label's added sugar grams by 4 and you've got teaspoons.

How many grams of sugar per day fits in a teaspoon count?

The heart association's own figures give it away: 36 grams over 9 teaspoons is 4 grams each. A cup of granulated sugar weighs about 198 grams, and with 48 teaspoons in a cup, that's 4.1 grams of sugar in a teaspoon. Close enough to call it 4.

1 gram of sugar is how many teaspoons?

One gram is a quarter of a teaspoon. That sounds tiny, but labels list sugar in whole grams, so a yogurt with 12 grams added is carrying 3 teaspoons you never spooned in yourself.

If you'd rather think in ounces, 25 grams is just under 0.9 ounce. Our grams to ounces converter handles any other figure, and switching between grams and teaspoons is simply that divide by 4 step.

Where the grams hide in everyday food and drink

Sugary drinks, desserts and sweet snacks are the top sources of added sugar in the US, according to the CDC's added sugars data. Drinks are the sneakiest because they don't fill you up.

That yogurt example comes straight from the FDA's label guide: 15 grams of total sugar, but only 7 grams added. The other 8 grams come from the milk itself and don't count against you. The label shows those 7 grams as 14 percent of the Daily Value.

A single 12 ounce can of regular Coke, at 39 grams, is 156 percent of a woman's daily added sugar limit and still 3 grams over a man's.

What going over the limit adds up to in a year

CDC survey data from 2017 to 2018 put the average daily consumption of sugar at 19 teaspoons for men and 15 for women. At 4 grams a teaspoon, that's roughly 76 grams and 60 grams a day.

Compare that to the limits. The average woman eats about 35 grams too much every day, and the average man about 40 grams too much. Over a year, that's around 12.8 kilograms of extra sugar for women and 14.6 kilograms for men, or roughly 28 and 32 pounds.

Calories pile up too. The heart association's numbers work out to 4 calories per gram, so 35 extra grams is about 140 calories a day. That's a full can of soda's worth, every single day, without drinking one.

Dropping one daily can of regular Coke cuts 39 grams a day, or about 14.2 kilograms of sugar over a year. That's roughly 31 pounds you never have to burn off.

How to track your daily consumption of sugar with a scale

Labels do most of the work for packaged food. Where they fall short is the stuff you add yourself: sugar in coffee, honey on oatmeal, syrup on pancakes. That's where weighing beats guessing, because a heaped spoonful holds noticeably more than a level one.

Honey and syrups are denser than white sugar, so a spoonful weighs more. Our honey to sugar guide covers how those swaps change the grams in baking.

Quick answers on the recommended daily sugar intake

How much sugar should you eat a day if you're cutting back?

Aim for the heart association numbers, 25 grams for women and 36 for men, rather than the 50 gram label figure. If that feels like a big drop, start by getting under 50 and then trim from there.

Does fruit count toward the added sugar per day limit?

No. Sugar that's naturally inside whole fruit, vegetables and plain milk isn't added sugar. Sweetened fruit drinks are a different story, and those do count.

How much sugar should you have a day as a kid?

Kids over 2 get the same 25 gram cap as women, about 6 teaspoons. Babies and toddlers under 2 shouldn't have any added sugar at all.

Is the daily allowance of sugar the same as the Daily Value on labels?

Not quite. The label's 50 gram Daily Value is the upper bound from the Dietary Guidelines. The heart association's 25 and 36 gram figures are stricter and are the better daily target if you're watching your heart health.

Want to know how many grams of sugar are really in that spoonful? Download Scale for Grams and get an AI-powered weight estimate from a photo in seconds. Get the app here: iOS.