Nutrition glossary
What does added sugar mean?
Added sugar is any sugar or syrup put into a food or drink when it's made, cooked or served, such as table sugar, honey or corn syrup. It doesn't include the sugar that occurs naturally in whole fruit, vegetables or plain milk.
Added sugar vs natural sugar
Your body handles sugar molecules the same way wherever they come from. The difference is what comes with them. A medium apple has roughly 19 g of sugar, about half a can of cola. But the apple also brings fibre, water and vitamins, takes time to chew and fills you up. The cola delivers its sugar in seconds with nothing else.
A good everyday example is yogurt. Plain yogurt contains lactose, a sugar that is naturally in milk. A flavoured yogurt with fruit syrup has that same lactose plus added sugar, often a couple of teaspoons' worth.
In the UK you'll also hear "free sugars." That covers added sugar plus the sugar in honey, syrups, and fruit juices and smoothies, because once fruit is juiced, its sugar acts much like added sugar.
How much added sugar is too much?
| Guideline | Limit | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| World Health Organization | Under 10% of daily energy, ideally under 5% | Under 50 g on 2,000 kcal; ideally about 25 g |
| American Heart Association, women | No more than 25 g a day | About 6 teaspoons |
| American Heart Association, men | No more than 36 g a day | About 9 teaspoons |
| Dietary Guidelines for Americans | Under 10% of daily calories | Under 50 g on 2,000 kcal |
| NHS (UK), adults | No more than 30 g of free sugars a day | About 7 sugar cubes |
For scale, one 330 ml can of regular cola has about 35 g of sugar, which is more than the whole daily limit for women under the AHA advice. A teaspoon of sugar is about 4 g.
Too much added sugar is linked to weight gain, tooth decay and type 2 diabetes, and it tends to crowd out more filling foods.
Reading food labels
On US Nutrition Facts labels, look for the line "Includes Xg Added Sugars" under Total Sugars. It also shows a % Daily Value based on 50 g. That line makes it easy to tell natural from added.
UK and EU labels only show "of which sugars," which lumps natural and added together. To spot added sugar, check the ingredients list: items are listed by weight, so sugar near the top means there's a lot. The UK traffic-light label marks sugar as high (red) above 22.5 g per 100 g of food.
Other names for added sugar
Sugar goes by dozens of names on ingredient lists. The common ones:
- Anything with "syrup": glucose syrup, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, rice syrup, maple syrup, golden syrup
- Words ending in "-ose": sucrose, glucose, fructose, dextrose, maltose
- Honey, agave, molasses, treacle, and cane, brown or coconut sugar
- Fruit juice concentrate
If three or four of these appear in one product, the total can be high even if none is listed first.
Easy ways to cut back
- Swap sugary drinks for water, sparkling water or unsweetened tea. For many people, drinks are the biggest single source.
- Buy plain yogurt and add your own fruit.
- Check breakfast cereals, granola and cereal bars; many carry 10 g or more per serving.
- Watch sauces: ketchup, barbecue sauce and some pasta sauces add up.
- Cut the sugar in your tea or coffee by half for a week, then half again.
Common questions
Is the sugar in fruit added sugar?
No. Sugar inside whole fruit is natural sugar, and whole fruit is encouraged in every major guideline. Fruit juice and smoothies are treated differently in the UK, where they count as free sugars, so the NHS suggests keeping them to 150 ml a day.
Is honey an added sugar?
Yes. When you stir honey, maple syrup or agave into food, they count as added sugar, just like table sugar.
How many grams of added sugar a day is OK?
The American Heart Association suggests no more than 25 g for women and 36 g for men. The WHO says under 10% of your daily energy, and ideally under 5%, which is about 25 g for most adults.
Related
Sugar is one part of diet quality. To see how sugary foods affect blood sugar, read about the glycemic index, and for the carbs group as a whole, see macronutrients and net carbs. The DASH diet and healthy eating basics both show what a lower-sugar day looks like.