US: the Added Sugars line
The redesigned Nutrition Facts panel, which large US manufacturers had to use from January 2020 and smaller ones from January 2021, added a new line indented under Total Sugars: "Includes Xg Added Sugars".
- Total Sugars counts every sugar in the product, including the natural sugar in milk or fruit.
- Added Sugars counts only sugar put in during processing, plus syrups, honey and concentrated juice.
- % Daily Value for added sugars is based on 50 g a day for a 2,000-calorie diet. 5% DV or less is low; 20% DV or more is high.
Plain yogurt, for example, can show several grams of total sugar and zero added sugar. A flavoured version of the same yogurt shows the difference on the Added Sugars line.
UK: traffic-light colours
Many UK packs carry a voluntary front-of-pack label with red, amber and green colours for fat, saturates, sugars and salt. For sugars, the bands are based on the amount per 100 g (or 100 ml for drinks):
| Colour | Food, per 100 g | Drinks, per 100 ml |
|---|---|---|
| Green (low) | 5 g or less | 2.5 g or less |
| Amber (medium) | More than 5 g up to 22.5 g | More than 2.5 g up to 11.25 g |
| Red (high) | More than 22.5 g | More than 11.25 g |
The UK traffic light measures total sugars, not free sugars. A carton of plain milk or a bag of dried fruit can show amber or red even though the milk has no added sugar. Use the ingredient list to tell the two apart.
A separate rule applies to portion sizes: a food can also be marked red if one portion contains a large share of the daily reference intake, so check both the colour and the grams per portion.
The ingredient list
In the US, UK and EU, ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. Two habits make this list useful:
- Look at the first three ingredients. If a sugar is among them, sugar is a major part of the product.
- Count the different sugars. A maker can use three or four smaller sugars so that none of them appears near the top. Added together, they may outweigh the first ingredient.
- Read "no added sugar" carefully. It means no sugar was added as an ingredient. The product can still be high in free sugars from juice concentrate or dried fruit pastes.
The many names of sugar
All of these are free sugars, whatever the packaging says about them being natural or unrefined:
- Sucrose
- Glucose
- Dextrose
- Fructose
- Maltose
- Lactose (when added)
- Corn syrup
- High-fructose corn syrup
- Glucose-fructose syrup
- Invert sugar
- Cane sugar
- Evaporated cane juice
- Brown sugar
- Coconut sugar
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Agave syrup
- Rice syrup
- Barley malt
- Molasses
- Treacle
- Golden syrup
- Date syrup
- Fruit juice concentrate
Words ending in "-ose" are usually sugars. "Syrup", "nectar" and "concentrate" are other giveaways.
Front-of-pack claims
| Claim | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Sugar-free | Very little sugar per serving (under 0.5 g in the US, per 100 g in the EU and UK). Often sweetened with sweeteners instead. |
| Reduced sugar | Less than the maker's regular version, by a set percentage. It may still be a sugary food. |
| No added sugar | No sugar added as an ingredient. Natural sugars, including from juice, may still be high. |
| Natural sweetness | Not a regulated term in most places. Check the ingredient list. |
Definitions vary by country and are updated from time to time, so treat this table as a guide and check your national food agency for the exact rules.
Next step
Once you can spot added sugar, the swap tables give you something to put in the basket instead.