Lifestyle · Sugar
Added sugar intake estimate
Think about the past month — meals and snacks at home, work, restaurants, anywhere:
Timeframe: the past month (30 days)
For self-understanding only, not a diagnosis · you can exit anytime; answers are not saved or uploaded
About this instrument
This check uses the added-sugars items of NCI's Five-Factor Screener (PhenX protocol 051001, free to use). It covers four sugary food groups — soda, fruit-flavored drinks, sweet baked goods, and desserts — then applies sex- and age-specific median portion sizes in a regression model to estimate your daily added-sugar intake.
The items come from the added-sugars section of the NCI Five-Factor Screener, published in the PhenX Toolkit (protocol 051001), which states the protocol is freely available and requires no permission. The original screener estimates added-sugar intake from frequency alone, without portion-size questions.
Scoring: the frequency of four sugary food groups (soda, fruit-flavored drinks, sweet baked goods, desserts) is converted to times per day, multiplied by sex- and age-specific median portion sizes in teaspoon units, summed, and passed through a cube-root regression to estimate grams of added sugar per day. Two demographic questions (sex, age group) were added to select the model parameters.
Benchmarks: dietary guidelines recommend keeping added sugar under 50 g/day and ideally under 25 g; WHO advises below 10% of energy intake, ideally below 5%.
Limits: only four major sugar sources are covered — bubble tea, flavored yogurt, sauces and honey are not included. The result is a statistical estimate, not a measurement or a medical diagnosis. Follow clinical advice if you are pregnant, diabetic, or managing a metabolic condition.
Source: NCI Five-Factor Screener · PhenX 051001 · Developed by NCI; PhenX protocol is freely available, no permission required · Original source
Item preview (6)
Think about the past month — meals and snacks at home, work, restaurants, anywhere:
- Your sex? (the model uses sex-specific portion parameters)
- Your age group?
- How often did you drink regular soda or soft drinks with sugar? Do NOT include diet soda.
- How often did you drink fruit-flavored drinks with added sugar (fruit drinks, sweetened teas, sports or energy drinks)? Do NOT include 100% fruit juice.
- How often did you eat doughnuts, sweet rolls, Danish, muffins or similar sweet baked goods?
- How often did you eat cookies, cake, pie or brownies? Do NOT include ice cream or candy.