This calculator compares the added sugar you eat or drink in a day against the American Heart Association's recommended daily limit — 25 g for women and 36 g for men — and converts the total to teaspoons so it's easier to picture. It's built for anyone trying to keep tabs on added sugar without doing the label math by hand.
How the Added Sugar Intake Calculator works
The calculator takes your total added sugar in grams — either a single number or a summed food log — and your sex, then computes what percentage of the AHA's sex-specific daily limit that represents. It also converts grams to teaspoons using the standard ~4.2 g per teaspoon conversion for granulated sugar, so a number like "40 g" becomes a more intuitive "about 9.5 teaspoons."
Inputs and what they mean
"Added sugar consumed" is the grams of added sugar from the nutrition label's "Added Sugars" line — not total sugars, which also include naturally occurring sugar in fruit or dairy. "Sex" sets which AHA limit applies (25 g for women, 36 g for men), since the recommendation itself is sex-specific. The Food Log tab lets you build up a total from individual foods instead of guessing a single number.
Limits and edge cases
The AHA limit is a general population guideline, not an individualized target — people with diabetes, prediabetes, or other metabolic conditions may need a different, clinician-set target. The calculator can't verify the grams you enter against an actual nutrition label, so accuracy depends on reading labels correctly. It also doesn't distinguish added sugar by source (e.g., beverages vs. baked goods), which can matter for dental health and blood sugar response even at the same gram total.