Somewhat unsurprisingly then, when a draft World Health Organisation (WHO) report entitled "Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases" suggested that sugar should account for no more than 10% of a healthy diet, the sugar industry responded by demanding that Congress end its $406 million funding unless the report was binned. The Sugar Association said it would "exercise every avenue available to expose the dubious nature" of the report and rejected the report's conclusion that sweetened soft drinks were contributing to the obesity pandemic. So much for "seeking to improve the well-being of the general public". According to the sugar industry it is perfectly acceptable for a quarter of our intake of food and drink to consist of sugar. This is despite WHO assertions that a team of 30 independent experts had considered the scientific evidence and its conclusions were in line with the findings of 23 national reports which have, on average, set targets of 10% for added sugars. The report was published regardless of the industry's threats on April 23rd. Whether the sugar industry remains sweet looks doubtful.
Sources:
www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,940287,00.html
www.ilsi.org/about/#aff
www.who.int/mediacentre/en/