As sugar contains no vitamins or minerals, or anything other than just energy, the common opinion among health experts is that we can do without it. Because of that there is no recommended daily intake (RDA).
Most governments have something called dietary guidelines, which is expert advice on what we need to eat- and what we need to limit. Sugar is one of those things we need to limit according to health experts.
As an upper limit the USA government recommends 40 grams of sugar pr 2000 calories. In UK they recommend a 10% max, which equals to 100grams of sugar pr 2000 calories. The Scandinavian recommendations are the same.
A few months ago one of the worlds largest heart associations published their new guidelines on sugar, which where a record low. The American heart association now recommends that a woman only has 25 grams of sugar in her diet and men 35 grams.
Here is a summary:
UK and Scandinavia: 10%
USA current recommendations: 8%
American heart association : 5%
The current trend in USA is 105 g, or 22 tsp, compared to the 6 teaspoons the American Heart association wants people to limit themselves too.
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The recommendations are based on a large scale research that I will comment on later. If you want to have a read, you can find the article ‘Dietary Sugars Intake and Cardiovascular Health: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association’ here.