At EB137 (May 2015) Italy proposed changing the procedures for developing WHO Guidelines so as to provide member states with a formal opportunity to influence the expert committee process.
While the explicit focus of this item was on WHO’s guidelines process the underlying dynamic was an attack by the Sugar Industry on WHO’s mandate.
In March 2014 WHO issued a draft guideline suggesting dropping the recommended free sugar intake from a maximum of 10% of total energy intake to 5%. See the WHO Media Release from March 2014 which announced the draft guideline (here). This suggestion remained in the final version of the guidelines which were formally published (here) on 4 March 2015.
The essence of the Italian proposal was that WHO’s guidelines protocols (Handbook 2012) “should be reviewed and updated in order to take into account a different international commitment by stakeholders, in particular Member States, to make them more reliable by increasing the accountability and transparency of the Organization …”.
The draft guideline suggesting the dropping the recommended free sugar intake from max of 10% of total energy intake to 5% was published and announced in a press release on 5 March 2014 (here) and the finalised guideline was formally published 4 March 2015 here.
While the Italian motivation for the discussion at the EB does not mention the sugar guideline the Under-secretary for Health, Vito De Filippo subsequently explained the Italian decision, claiming that ‘sugar is an essential nutrient’ and argued that reducing sugar intake as a proportion of total caloric intake to 5% was ‘overly restrictive’. (Mr De Filippo did not mention that Italy is a major sugar producer (here); nor did he mention that Italy is host to the world’s largest chocolate producer, Ferrero, owned by Italy’s richest man.)
The world faces an epidemic of NCDs. The scientific evidence is that excessive sugar intake plays a major role in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, caries and other high burden conditions. In its comment on the WHO guidelines, the European Public Health Association pointed to the forthcoming deregulation of the sugar beet industry in Europe leading to increased production and reduced prices which will flow on to cheaper junk food, further driving the rise in NCDs, obesity and overweight, and heart disease. See also the extensive commentary in support of the WHO guidelines by Action on Sugar.
See PHM Comment on this item here. See links to item documentation here.