How to spot added sugar on food labels
Spotting added sugar on food labels can requires some detective work. Though food and beverage manufacturers list a product’s total amount of sugar per serving on the Nutrition Facts Panel, they are not required to list how much of that sugar is added sugar versus naturally occurring sugar. That’s why you’ll need to scan the ingredients list of a food or drink to find the added sugar. (29) However, the body doesn’t distinguish between natural or added sugars, so paying attention to total sugar is the key.
- Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight (30), so where sugar is listed in relation to other ingredients can indicate how much sugar a particular food contains.
- Added sugars go by many different names, yet they are all a source of extra calories.
Food makers can also use sweeteners that aren’t technically sugar—a term which is applied only to table sugar, or sucrose—but these other sweeteners are in fact forms of added sugar. Below are some other names for sugar that you may see on food labels:
| Agave nectar | Evaporated cane juice | Malt syrup |
| Brown sugar | Fructose | Maple syrup |
| Cane crystals | Fruit juice concentrates | Molasses |
| Cane sugar | Glucose | Raw sugar |
| Corn sweetener | High-fructose corn syrup | Sucrose |
| Corn syrup | Honey | Syrup |
| Crystalline fructose | Invert sugar | |
| Dextrose | Maltose |
From our friends at Harvard School of Public Health. Read entire article here: How to spot added sugar on food labels
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