Added Sugar on Labels: Total vs Added, and the Arithmetic

A label can print “Added Sugars 0 g” for a food that contains sugar. It can print “Total Sugars 12 g” for plain milk, which has no added sugar at all. The two lines are not interchangeable, and the difference is defined by regulation, not by chemistry. This page gives the definitions, the arithmetic to recover the real figure from a label, and the daily limits as published by the bodies that issued them.

What the label distinguishes

Total Sugars is the sum of all mono- and disaccharides present in the food, whether they were put there by a manufacturer or arrived in the ingredient. Added Sugars is the subset that was added during processing or packaging. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines added sugars as sugars that are either added during the processing of foods, or are packaged as such, and includes sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices that are in excess of what would be expected from the same volume of 100 percent fruit or vegetable juice of the same type. The definition is in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6)(iii).

The distinction exists because the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommended limiting added sugars to less than 10 percent of daily calories, while no such limit was set for total sugars. The label was changed to make that limit trackable. A cup of plain yogurt with 12 g total sugar and 0 g added sugar is not the same food, for this purpose, as a cup of sweetened yogurt with 12 g total sugar and 8 g added sugar.

The guideline figures and who issued them

The 10 percent figure comes from the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommended that added sugars be limited to less than 10 percent of calories per day. The same recommendation was carried into the 2020-2025 edition. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a conditional recommendation in 2015 to reduce free sugars intake to less than 10 percent of total energy intake, with a further conditional recommendation to reduce to below 5 percent for additional health benefits. “Free sugars” in the WHO definition includes added sugars plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, and fruit juices. It does not include sugars in intact fruit and milk.

The American Heart Association (AHA) published a more restrictive target in 2009: no more than 100 kcal per day from added sugars for most women and 150 kcal per day for most men. At 4 kcal per gram, that is 25 g and 37.5 g respectively. The AHA figure is a target for cardiovascular risk reduction, not a population limit.

The arithmetic to recover the real figure

Labels carry a tolerance. The FDA allows a food to be mislabeled if the nutrient content is not more than 20 percent above the labeled value for most nutrients, including sugars. Rounding rules also apply: 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6)(ii) permits a declaration of “0 g” for total sugars if the amount is less than 0.5 g per serving. A food with 0.4 g of added sugar per serving can print “Added Sugars 0 g.”

To recover the real figure, work from the ingredient list and the serving size. The ingredient list is ordered by weight, so a sugar listed first is present in a larger amount than one listed later. The arithmetic below uses a hypothetical granola bar. The numbers are illustrative, not from a specific product.

Label: Total Sugars 8 g, Added Sugars 5 g, Serving size 40 g
Ingredient list: oats, brown rice syrup, honey, almonds, salt

Step 1: Identify added sugar sources.
  Brown rice syrup and honey are added sugars.
  Oats and almonds contain negligible mono- and disaccharides.

Step 2: Estimate the split.
  Total Sugars = 8 g
  Added Sugars = 5 g
  Naturally occurring sugars = 8 - 5 = 3 g (from oats and almonds, small)

Step 3: Convert added sugar to calories.
  Atwater factors: carbohydrate 4 kcal/g, of which sugars are a subset.
  5 g added sugar x 4 kcal/g = 20 kcal from added sugar

Step 4: Compare to a daily limit.
  At 2,000 kcal, 10% = 200 kcal.
  20 kcal / 200 kcal = 10% of the added sugar limit for one bar.

Step 5: Check rounding.
  If the label printed "Added Sugars 0 g," the actual could be up to 0.49 g.
  At 0.49 g, 0.49 x 4 = 1.96 kcal, which is under 1% of the 200 kcal limit.

The Atwater factors are averages: 4 kcal/g for carbohydrate, 4 for protein, 9 for fat, 7 for alcohol. They were derived from bomb calorimetry and corrected for digestibility. They are not exact for every food, and the FDA permits their use in labeling. A food’s actual metabolizable energy can differ by a few percent.

What people get wrong, and why

The common mistake is to treat total sugars and added sugars as the same number, or to treat a high total sugar figure as evidence of added sugar. Plain milk has about 12 g total sugar per cup and 0 g added sugar. Plain yogurt can have 12 g total sugar and 0 g added sugar. Fruit has sugar, but it is not added sugar. The mistake is natural because the label presents the two lines together, and the word “sugar” appears in both. The distinction is regulatory, not chemical: the same molecule of fructose is “added” if it came from a syrup and “naturally occurring” if it came from a fruit.

A second mistake is to treat sugar as uniquely fattening. Within a fixed calorie total, the evidence does not support that. Controlled feeding trials that matched calories and protein found small differences in weight or fat loss between diets differing in sugar content. The effect of sugar on body weight is mediated largely through calorie density and weak satiety: sugar-sweetened beverages, for example, add calories without producing the same fullness as solid food. That is a smaller claim than “sugar is toxic,” and it is the one the literature supports. Sugar is not addictive in the clinical sense; the term is used loosely in popular writing.

A third mistake is to trust the label’s zero. A label can print “0 g” for total sugars if the amount is less than 0.5 g per serving. If the serving size is small, a food can contain sugar and still print zero. The arithmetic above shows how to bound the error.

What to do differently

Weigh the food rather than distrust the label. A kitchen scale resolves the serving-size ambiguity that rounding exploits. If the label says 40 g and the piece weighs 55 g, the sugar figures scale by 55/40 = 1.375. The label’s 5 g added sugar becomes 6.9 g. The arithmetic is the same as above, with the actual weight substituted.

Use the ingredient list to identify added sugar sources when the Added Sugars line is zero or missing. Ingredients are listed by weight. Names for added sugar include brown rice syrup, honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, cane sugar, beet sugar, and fruit juice concentrate. The FDA’s definition includes concentrated fruit or vegetable juices that are in excess of what would be expected from the same volume of 100 percent juice.

Track added sugar against the 10 percent figure if a limit is needed. At 2,000 kcal, 10 percent is 200 kcal, or 50 g. At 2,500 kcal, it is 250 kcal, or 62.5 g. The %DV on the label uses 50 g as the Daily Value, which is based on a 2,000 kcal diet. If your calorie target is different, the %DV is not your percentage.

This page is for general information and is not medical advice. If you are concerned about your relationship with food or eating, contact a healthcare provider. In the United States, the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) helpline is available at 1-800-931-2237 or by texting “NEDA” to 741741.

FAQ

Q: What is the difference between total sugar and added sugar on a label? A: Total Sugars is all mono- and disaccharides in the food. Added Sugars is the subset added during processing or packaging, as defined in 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6)(iii). Plain milk has total sugar but no added sugar.

Q: How much sugar per day is recommended? A: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend limiting added sugars to less than 10 percent of calories per day. At 2,000 kcal, that is 200 kcal or 50 g. The AHA target is 100 kcal for women and 150 kcal for men.

Q: Can a label say 0 g added sugar if there is sugar in the food? A: Yes. Under 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6)(ii), a declaration of “0 g” is permitted if the amount is less than 0.5 g per serving. A food with 0.4 g added sugar per serving can print zero.

Q: Is sugar addictive? A: The clinical literature does not support sugar addiction as a diagnosis. The term is used loosely in popular writing. Sugar can be calorie-dense and weakly satiating, which affects intake, but that is a different claim.

Q: How do I convert grams of sugar to calories? A: Use the Atwater factor for carbohydrate, 4 kcal per gram. Multiply grams of sugar by 4. For example, 10 g sugar x 4 = 40 kcal. The factor is an average and may differ by a few percent for specific foods.