New guidelines by the World Health Organization warn that people are consuming a lot of sugar. They must limit their sugar intake to 5 to 10% of their overall calories.

The guidelines strengthen the draft released last year. Focus is on added sugars present in the processed food and in honey, syrups and fruit juices. The suggestion does not apply to naturally occurring sugars like in fruits, milk and vegetables.

"We have solid evidence that keeping intake of (added) sugars to less than 10 percent of total energy intake reduces the risk of overweight, obesity and tooth decay", affirmed Francesco Branca, Director of WHO's nutrition department.

For past so many years, experts have raised concerns over the problems linked with sugar and many studies have concluded that people who eat sugar in large proportion are at higher risk of early death from heart problems and may also face other complications.

In order to meet the deadline mentioned in the new guidelines, Americans, Europeans and others in the West would require to reduce their average sugar intake by two-thirds.

In America, adults get their 11 to 15% of their calories from sugar. In the case of children the percentage is 16. In Europe, sugar intake varies. Experts suggested that for people in Western countries, 10% target is more achievable than setting the lower limit.

Earlier, the WHO has suggested a limit at around 10%. But this time, it has issued lower limit. Tom Sanders, a professor of nutrition and dietetics at King's College London, was of the view that to achieve 5% goal, one would not be able to have even orange juice.

He affirmed that for Britons, it would not be an impossible task to limit sugar intake to 10% of their diet. The WHO said that most people do not realize the amount of sugar they are consuming as it is often hidden in processed foods, which are not even considered sweet.