Sugar is found in far more products than you might think: from sauces and breakfast cereals to fruit juice. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that no more than 10 per cent of your daily energy intake should come from free sugars – around 50 grams for the average adult – and states that less than 25 grams is even better. In this article, you’ll find out how to recognise the signs of a high sugar intake, what sugar does to your body and how to cut down on it without any hassle.
What are the symptoms of too much sugar?
Common signs of too much sugar include afternoon energy slumps, headaches, difficulty concentrating, increased thirst, bloating and recurring cravings for sweet things. None of these symptoms are unique to sugar, but they often occur together in a diet high in fast-acting sugars and low in protein, fibre and fats.
- Fatigue and an afternoon slump. A breakfast or lunch consisting mainly of fast-acting sugars causes your blood sugar levels to spike initially and then drop rapidly. You feel this drop as a slump.
- Headaches and difficulty concentrating. This is also often linked to sharply fluctuating blood sugar levels.
- Thirst and a dry mouth. After a sharp rise in blood sugar, your body craves extra fluid. Opt for water or unsweetened tea, not fizzy drinks.
- Bloating. Large amounts of fructose from fizzy drinks, sweets and fruit juice are difficult for sensitive digestive systems to process. Fructose from whole fruit is consumed in smaller quantities and alongside fibre, and therefore causes symptoms much less frequently.
- Increasing cravings for sweet things. Sugar activates the reward system in your brain, making you more likely to reach for something sweet again.
- Gradual weight gain. Calories from sugar that you don’t burn off are stored by your body as fat.
It’s important to keep a level head: all these signs can also have other causes, ranging from a lack of sleep to not drinking enough. If you recognise several of these signs and they persist, first take a critical look at what you’re eating and drinking. If the symptoms continue, your GP is the right person to consult.
How many grams of sugar per day are acceptable?
The WHO recommends that no more than 10 per cent of your daily energy intake should come from free sugars – approximately 50 grams per day based on a 2,000 kcal intake – and states that less than 5 per cent (around 25 grams) is even better. In 2022, the EFSA concluded that no safe upper limit can be established and recommends keeping the intake of added and free sugars as low as possible (EFSA Journal 2022, scientific opinion on dietary sugars).
Free sugars are all sugars added to products, plus the sugars in honey, syrup and fruit juice. Sugars that occur naturally in whole fruit, vegetables and milk are not counted. To illustrate how quickly 50 grams is reached:
| Product | Free sugars (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Can of soft drink (330 ml) | 35 grams |
| Glass of fruit juice (200 ml) | 18 grams |
| Small pot of fruit yoghurt (150 g) | 15 grams |
| Sugar cube | 4 grams |
So just one can of fizzy drink and a glass of juice will use up almost your entire daily allowance, even before you’ve eaten anything.
What effect does sugar have on your body?
Sugars are broken down in your body into glucose, the main source of quick energy for your muscles and brain. If you consume more than you use, your body first stores the surplus as glycogen in your muscles and liver, and then as body fat.
After a high-sugar meal, your blood sugar levels rise rapidly. Your pancreas produces insulin to transport that glucose to your cells, after which your blood sugar levels drop again. When you consume a lot of fast-acting sugars at once, this drop often happens so quickly that you experience it as tiredness or renewed hunger. This is where the reward system comes into play: sweet foods trigger a dopamine rush, a brief feeling of reward that encourages you to reach for more. This is how a high-sugar pattern perpetuates itself. A meal containing sufficient protein, fibre and fats is digested more slowly than a meal consisting mainly of fast-acting sugars.
Can eating too much sugar cause muscle pain or cramps?
There is no solid scientific evidence that too much sugar directly causes muscle pain or cramps. Muscle problems usually have other causes, such as unusually strenuous exercise, dehydration or an electrolyte imbalance. You can read more about what electrolytes are and when you need them in our article on the subject.
What sugar can do, however, is this: consuming a lot of fast-acting sugars just before exercise first causes a spike in blood sugar levels, followed by a dip, which can make a training session feel harder than it needs to be. Anyone who regularly suffers from cramps would therefore be better off looking first at their fluid intake, training programme and overall diet rather than blaming sugar. We’ve previously written a separate article on fluid intake: what happens if you don’t drink enough water.
Regardless of the cramp issue, the approved EU wording for magnesium applies: Magnesium contributes to normal muscle function (EU Register, Regulation 432/2012). If you’re unsure whether you’re deficient in anything, your GP can arrange for a test.
Does eating too much sugar cause diabetes?
Eating sugar does not directly cause type 2 diabetes. The link is mainly through being overweight: anyone who, over a long period, consumes more energy than they burn increases their risk of becoming overweight, and being overweight is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
Sugary drinks make it easy to consume that excess, as they provide lots of calories without really giving you anything in return. It’s no coincidence that the Health Council of the Netherlands recommends, in its Guidelines on Good Nutrition, drinking as few sugary drinks as possible. If you have any questions about your blood sugar levels or an increased risk of diabetes, please discuss this with your GP. This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.
How can you reduce your sugar intake?
The biggest improvement almost always comes from what you drink: fizzy drinks, fruit juice and sweetened coffee or tea provide a lot of free sugars without any other nutrients. Simply by making changes to your drinks, you can often cut out tens of grams of free sugars a day.
- Drink mainly water, coffee or tea without sugar. This is the quickest and most effective way to cut down.
- Read the label. Sugar is also listed there as glucose syrup, fructose-glucose syrup, dextrose, maltose or concentrated fruit juice. In the nutritional information table, you’ll see the total under ‘of which sugars’.
- Choose whole fruit instead of juice. It’s the same fruit, but with fibre and less sugar per portion.
- Base your meals on protein, fibre and fats. These are digested more slowly than fast-acting sugars. You can read about how to apply these proportions in practice in ‘Counting macros: how it works’.
- Be realistic about “healthier” sugars. Honey, coconut blossom sugar and brown sugar are also free sugars. Your body processes them in much the same way as white sugar.
Frequently asked questions about too much sugar
Does fruit count as too much sugar?
No, whole fruit does not count as free sugars. The sugars in fruit are bound within fibre, which means they are absorbed more slowly. According to the WHO, fruit juice does count as free sugars, even if it is freshly squeezed.
Is brown sugar or honey healthier than white sugar?
Hardly. Brown sugar, coconut blossom sugar and honey contain, at most, minimal amounts of minerals and are processed by your body in much the same way as white sugar. For the purposes of the WHO guidelines, they all count equally.
How can I spot hidden sugar on a label?
Look in the nutritional information table for ‘of which sugars’ per 100 grams, and scan the ingredients list for names ending in -ose (glucose, fructose, dextrose, maltose) as well as syrups and juice concentrates. The earlier such an ingredient appears in the list, the more of it there is.
I’ve eaten far too much sugar – what now?
One day of high sugar intake isn’t a disaster and doesn’t need to be ‘made up for’. Just drink water, eat your next meal as normal – with protein, fibre and fats – and carry on. Only when sugar spikes become the rule rather than the exception is it worth addressing the pattern.
Cutting down on sugar often starts with a breakfast or snack that isn’t taken from a packet full of hidden sugars. Our organic whey protein, Purely Natural, keeps the ingredients list short and contains no added sugars (though it does contain the naturally occurring milk sugars from whey). Check out all our protein powders, or our vegan magnesium if you want to top up your magnesium intake. And do make sure to read the label – that’s how it should be.
