Many people are under the belief that if a product contains no added sugar or no refined sugar, it means that it will have less sugar or a low sugar content compared to other products. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
Similar assumptions are made about fruit sugars and while natural sugars do provide benefits such as additional antioxidants, they like refined sugars require fibre to be digested and therefore the metabolisms of both refined and natural sugars are very similar in the body. This means that quantity should be measured carefully in all high sugar foods.
It is also important to have a good understanding of what the food labels really mean when choosing the right products. So, below are some helpful tips on how to read a food label when it comes to sugar…
Understanding the labels
No added sugar or ‘only contains natural sugars’- most commonly means no added sucrose (table sugar) – but that’s only one type of sugar. There are many other types of sugar; fructose, maltose, glucose, dextrose, honey, treacle, maple syrup, molasses, golden syrup, raw sugar, concentrated fruit juice, I think you are beginning to get the picture. Unfortunately, with current food regulations, these don’t necessarily need to be disclosed as “no added sugar” by manufacturers meaning they can swap out ‘table sugar’ for any of the above — however, they still have the same effect on the body as other sugars.
Natural sugars — Can sometimes have fewer calories than added sugars, but they still have the same risks for your dental health.
Reduced sugar — Must contain at least 25% less sugar than the ‘normal’ or original version of the product. However, it is worth noting, if the normal version is very high in sugar, this may mean the alternative product is still incredibly high in sugar.
Low sugar — This is normally the safe choice for food labelling. Government regulation states that anything with the label “low” means that it must contain no more than 5g of sugar per 100g of the product.
Guidance
So how much sugar should we be looking for on a food label? Most guidelines set out a recommendation as shown below. Every food label must relate to “per 100g” of the product. Therefore, if you want to compare certain ingredients across different products, you can without needing to calculate quantities.
Check total sugar:
Less than 5g per 100g — Good
More than 22.5g per 100g — Bad
If you need assistance with understanding your sugar content in relation to your diet, drop me a message.