The Supermarket Sweet Talk
Food packaging is prime real estate for marketing. Brands use appealing phrases to make products seem healthier than they are. A 'no sugar added' claim on a fruit juice might make you feel good about your choice. Similarly, a granola bar labelled 'lightly
sweetened' seems like a sensible snack. The problem is that these front-of-pack claims are often a distraction. They don't tell the whole story and can lure you into consuming far more sugar than you realize. Regulations around these terms can be loose, or companies find creative ways to meet the technical definition while still loading a product with sweeteners. The result is a confused consumer making choices they believe are healthy, but which may not be.
Your New Golden Rule: Find 'Added Sugar'
Here is the one simple rule that cuts through the confusion: ignore the front of the pack and flip the product over. Your goal is to find the Nutrition Facts panel and look for one specific line: 'Added Sugars'. Total sugars include both sugars that are naturally present in ingredients like fruit and milk (lactose), and those that are added during processing. Added sugars, however, are the ones put in by the manufacturer to make the product sweeter. This includes everything from table sugar (sucrose) and high-fructose corn syrup to honey, syrups, and even fruit juice concentrates. These are the sugars that health experts recommend limiting, as they provide calories without significant nutritional benefits.
Why 'Added Sugar' Tells the Real Story
The 'Added Sugar' line is crucial because it exposes what marketing claims try to hide. A product can truthfully state 'no sugar added' but still be very high in added sugars from other sources. For instance, a fruit snack may not have sucrose added, but could be made with fruit juice concentrate, which is classified as an added sugar and can cause the same blood sugar spikes. This is why FSSAI in India is progressively mandating clearer declarations. Natural sugars found in whole foods like an apple or a glass of milk come packaged with fiber, vitamins, and minerals, which slow down their absorption. Added sugars, on the other hand, are absorbed quickly, which can contribute to health issues over time.
Putting It Into Practice
Let's compare two common items. Imagine a flavoured yogurt that boasts it is 'made with real fruit'. On the front, it seems healthy. But turn it over, and the 'Added Sugars' line might reveal 15 grams per serving. Now, pick up a plain, unsweetened yogurt. It will have some 'Total Sugars' from the naturally occurring lactose in milk, but its 'Added Sugars' will be zero. The same applies to breakfast cereals, sauces, and even bread. Ketchup, for example, can have around 4 grams of sugar per tablespoon. By making the 'Added Sugars' line your first point of comparison, you can quickly determine which product is truly the lower-sugar option, regardless of the claims made on the front.
Decoding the Ingredients List
If the 'Added Sugars' line isn't clear or available, your next best tool is the ingredients list. Ingredients are listed in descending order by weight, so if a form of sugar is in the top three ingredients, the product is likely high in sugar. Manufacturers often use multiple types of sugar to prevent any single one from appearing first on the list. Be on the lookout for sugar's many aliases, which include dextrose, maltose, corn syrup, invert sugar, and anything ending in '-ose'. A recent case in India saw a brand having to change its 'no added sugar' claim because it used date powder for sweetness, which regulators considered a form of added sugar. This highlights how crucial it is to look past marketing and read the fine print.
