Today could be the day that the World Health Organisation (WHO) will announce its plans for a crackdown on sugar.

The maximum daily recommended sugar limit, currently standing as 10% of daily energy, could be reduced to just 5%. This means a mere six teaspoons of sugar a day would exceed the recommended allowance.

The WHO Guidelines Review Committee have been reviewing the guideline draft, after a public consultation on the issue went live in March this year.

If the guidelines were to change and the recommended sugar intake was reduced so dramatically, it would mean an overhaul in current diet habits.

The WHO said: “The objective of this guideline is to provide recommendations on the consumption of free sugars to reduce the risk of NCDs in adults and children, with a particular focus on the prevention and control of weight gain and dental caries.

“When finalized, the recommendations in this guideline can be used by programme managers and policy planners to assess current intake of free sugars relative to a benchmark and develop measures to decrease intake of free sugars, where necessary, through public health interventions.”

WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations.