Chapter 4 – Carbohydrates

4.6 Natural and Added Sugars

Most of us enjoy the taste of sweetness, but you’ve also probably heard that you shouldn’t eat too much sugar. The truth about sugar is complex. It’s true that most Americans eat more added sugar than recommended and would benefit from cutting back. It’s also true that added sugars are hidden in many foods, and it can take savvy label-reading to find them. But let’s also remember the big picture when we think about sugar. Some sugar is naturally-occurring in whole foods, packaged with other valuable nutrients. There’s also room in the diet for some added sugar, and it can be valuable for making nutrient-dense foods more palatable or just for the pleasure of enjoying a treat. Let’s look closer at the role of sugar in the diet.

Food Sources of Naturally Occurring Sugars

As we’ve already discussed, sugars are naturally found in fruits, veggies, and dairy. These are nutrient dense foods that come packaged with other essential nutrients too.

Examples of whole foods that are sources of naturally-occurring sugar.
Figure 4.27.  “Assorted Fruit Bowl” by Allen Gottfried licensed CC BY-SA 2.0; “Vegetables” by johnbillu is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Fresh fruits and veggies contain naturally occurring sugars like glucose, fructose, and sucrose, but also come packaged with fiber, potassium, and Vitamin C. Dairy foods like unsweetened yogurt and milk contain naturally occurring lactose but also come packaged with calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and riboflavin.

Another food that contains natural sugar in the form of maltose is sprouted grain bread. In the example below, the only ingredients are sprouted organic rye kernels and water, yet there are 7 grams of sugar per slice. This sugar must be naturally-occurring maltose, and as you can imagine, it comes packaged with nutrients like fiber, protein, and iron.

100% sprouted whole grain-unleavened Manna Bread.
Figure 4.28.  Sprouted breads contain naturally occurring maltose from sprouted rye kernels.

            Nutrition Facts for Manna Bread. There is 7g of sugar per serving.

Ingredients to the Manna Bread: Sprouted Organic Rye Kernels, Filtered Water

Food Sources of Added Sugars

In contrast, added sugars are concentrated sweeteners that are added as ingredients to foods to make them sweeter. They add calories to a food but contribute little to no essential nutrients, so they decrease the nutrient density of foods. Among the most common sources of added sugar are table sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup, but they come in many different forms with different names. For example, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, and brown rice syrup may all sound more wholesome and natural, but they’re still added sugars, because they are concentrated sweeteners that contribute little to no other nutrients. Other names for added sugar you might not recognize as sweeteners at all, like barley malt or treacle. The list below includes 61 different names for added sugars.

This figure lists 61 different names for sugar that might show up on an ingredient list: agave nectar, barbados sugar, barley malt, barley malt syrup, beet sugar, buttered syrup, cane juice, cane juice crystals, cane sugar, caramel, carob syrup, castor sugar, coconut palm sugar, coconut sugar, confectioner's sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, date sugar, dehydrated cane juice, demerara sugar, dextrin, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, free-flowing brown sugars, fructose, fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, glucose solids, golden sugar, golden syrup, grape sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, icing sugar, invert sugar, malt syrup, maltodextrin, malitol, maltose, mannose, maple syrup, molasses, muscovado, palm sugar, panocha, powdered sugar, raw sugar, refiner's syrup, rice syrup, saccharose, sorghum syrup, sucrose, sugar (granulated), sweet sorghum, syrup, treacle, turbinado sugar, yellow sugar.
Figure 4.29.  Names of sugar commonly added to food. (“61 Names for Added Sugar” by Alice Callahan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Source for list of sugars: SugarScience, “Hidden in Plain Sight,” University of California, San Franscisco.)

We find added sugars in some expected places, like cookies, ice cream, and soda, but there can also be a surprising amount of added sugar in yogurt, breakfast cereals, energy bars, and plant-based milk alternatives, like soy milk. We also find added sugars hiding in unexpected places, like ketchup, salad dressings, bread, and pasta sauce. In fact, nearly 75% of packaged products in the U.S. food supply are now sweetened.

In general, most people don’t need to worry much about how much naturally-occurring sugars they consume. This goes back to the fact that naturally-occurring sugars are packaged with other nutrients. For example, a large apple contains about 23 grams of sugar, more than half of it in the form of fructose. However, it also has more than 5 grams of fiber, plus a significant amount of vitamin C and potassium. The fiber slows down the digestion and absorption of the sugar into your bloodstream, giving your body more time to metabolize it and giving you a greater feeling of fullness.

A single can of soda, on the other hand, contains about 33 grams of sugar. It’s in a similar chemical form as the sugar in the apple—a mix of fructose and glucose—but it’s not accompanied by any fiber to slow down digestion. Therefore, it’s rapidly absorbed into your bloodstream, and your body has to quickly metabolize the fructose to glucose and increase insulin secretion to process the spike in sugar. Plus, although the soda contains 150 calories and the apple has just 116, the apple is probably going to leave you feeling more satisfied and less hungry compared with the soda.

For all of these reasons, it’s the added sugars that we worry about, not the naturally occurring ones. There is room for some added sugar in a balanced diet, and you can use it to make nutrient-dense food tastier. For example, you can drizzle honey into plain yogurt or sprinkle some brown sugar on roasted winter squash. You get far more nutritional “bang for your buck” using added sugars in this way than consuming them in something like a soda.

How much added sugar are we eating?

On average, Americans consume 22 to 30 teaspoons of added sugar daily, up to 17% of calories, well in excess of the recommendation to limit added sugar intake to 10% of calories or less. This is shown in the image below from the Dietary Guidelines.

Added sugars account on average for almost 270 calories, or more than 13 percent of calories per day in the U.S. population. All sex and age groups exceed the added sugar recommendation, but intakes as a percent of calories are particularly high among children, adolescents, and young adults.
Figure 4.30.  Average intakes of added sugars as a percent of calories per day by age-sex group, in comparison to the Dietary Guidelines’ maximum limit of less than 10 percent of calories. (“Added sugar intake graphics” from Dietary Guidelines for Americans, Figures 2-9 and 2-10, Public Domain.)

Where are all of these added sugars coming from? Nearly half of them come from soda, juices, and other sugary drinks, as illustrated below. Therefore, the Dietary Guidelines recommend that people drink more water and less sugary drinks.

The major source of added sugars in typical U.S. diets is beverages, which include soft drinks, fruit drinks, sweetened coffee and tea, energy drinks, alcoholic beverages, and flavored waters. Beverages account for almost half (47%) of all added sugars consumed by the U.S. population. The other major source of added sugars is snacks and sweets, which includes grain-based desserts such as cakes, pies, cookies, brownies, doughnuts, sweet rolls, and pastries; dairy desserts such as ice cream, other frozen desserts, and puddings; candies; sugars; jams; syrups; and sweet toppings. Together, these food categories make up more than 75 percent of intake of all added sugars.
Figure 4.31.  Food category sources of added sugars in the U.S. population ages 2 years and older.

On the Nutrition Facts panel, sugar is expressed in grams, but most of us don’t think in grams. Therefore, it can be helpful to convert gram amounts to teaspoons, which are easier to visualize. Use the conversions shown in the graphic below to make these calculations.

This figure illustrates that a teaspoon is equal to 4g of sugar or a sugar cube. A 12 oz. can of Sprite contains 33 grams of sugar. How many teaspoons is this? 33 grams divided by 4 teaspoons equals 8.25 teaspoons or sugar cubes.
Figure 4.32.  “Sugar conversion” by Alice Callahan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, “Sugar cube” by jhnri4 and “measuring spoon” by mazeo, both in the Public Domain.

The sugar in soda adds up fast, especially with our super sized portions. For example, a 64-ounce soda has 186 grams of sugar, or about 46 teaspoons. (186 grams divided by 4g/tsp = 46 teaspoons.)

Forty six sugar cubes stacked next to a big gulp to illustrate the 46 teaspoons of sugar that the soda contains.
Figure 4.33.  Forty-six sugar cubes stacked next to a big gulp to illustrate the 46 teaspoons of sugar that the soda contains. (“Big Gulp with sugar cubes” by Tamberly Powell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.)

It can be eye-opening to track your added sugar intake for a few days, and this may give you an idea of sources of added sugar that you can live without and replace with something else. However, tracking added sugar intake can be tedious. In the big picture, it’s most important to focus on eating whole foods that are minimally processed and to consume added sugars in moderation.

Benefits of Eating Less Added Sugar

Research shows that adopting an eating pattern that is relatively low in added sugars has many benefits, including a lower risk of:

  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Obesity
  • Type 2 diabetes
  • Some cancers
  • Dental cavities

Why does too much added sugar cause health problems? The reasons are complex, and this is an ongoing area of research and controversy. One possible explanation is that a diet high in added sugar means the pancreas has to work hard to make enough insulin, and over time, it can begin to fail and the body’s cells start to become insulin resistant. The liver also has to work hard to metabolize fructose, and too much fructose increases fat synthesis, which can raise blood lipid and cholesterol levels, increasing risk of heart disease.

Both dietary sucrose and starch are associated with tooth decay. Bacteria living in the mouth can utilize the carbohydrates passing through the oral cavity for their own benefit. Those bacteria happily metabolize carbohydrates, especially sucrose, but also starchy foods, which stick to teeth and linger there. Acid is formed in the process, and this can dissolve your tooth enamel, eventually causing cavities, also known as dental caries. Reducing sugar intake, limiting between-meal snacks, and brushing after meals to remove lingering carbohydrates can help reduce the risk of dental caries. The use of fluoride and regular dental care also help.

The image is a schematic. On the left, it shows a Venn diagram with four circles coming together, with the words "tooth surface," "sugar and starch," "bacteria," and "time." When these 4 factors are present, the schematic shows that it results in plaque formation and acid production. This then leads to acid dissolving tooth enamel, forming dental caries. A photo shows a tooth with a severe cavity, with half of the tooth blackened.
Figure 4.34.  Dental caries form on teeth when bacteria feed on a carbohydrate forming plaque and acid. The acid dissolves tooth enamel and caries form. (“Dental caries” by Alice Callahan is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0, “Cavity” by Suyash.dwivedi is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0,)

Are any Added Sugars Better Than Others?

Students often ask which sugar is healthiest: high fructose corn syrup, honey, agave syrup, or table sugar? In general, as far as the body is concerned, sugar is sugar. These are all concentrated sweeteners that contain calories with very few/no other nutrients, so all should be used only in moderation.

Video: “What’s The Difference Between Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup?” by Reactions, YouTube (March 23, 2015), 2:41 minutes.

Are sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup, and molasses any better than more refined and processed sweeteners? Maybe. These sweeteners do contain minerals and antioxidants, so they may offer a slight edge in terms of nutrition. However, keep in mind that minerals and antioxidants are abundant in whole foods such as whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, and these offer many other benefits. These sweeteners are still considered sources of added sugar and should be used in moderation.

Label-Reading to Identify Sugar

If you’re trying to figure out if a food is high in added sugar and what ingredients are contributing the added sugar, there are two places you should look on the label. First, check the Nutrition Facts panel to see how many grams of added sugar are in one serving. Be aware that the “Total Sugars” on the label includes both added and naturally occurring sugars. The ingredients list will identify the sources of added sugar, which may be listed as any of the 61 different names from Figure 4.29.

Let’s take a look at some labels to practice identifying naturally occurring and added sugars in foods.

Below are labels from a 6-ounce serving of plain yogurt. There are 6 grams of total sugar and 0 grams of added sugar listed on the label. What ingredients contain naturally occurring sugar?

Zoi Greek Yogurt container with nutrition facts and ingredient list visible.
Figure 4.35.  Plain yogurt with Nutrition Facts and ingredients list. (Image by Tamberly Powell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.)

The ingredients include nonfat milk, maltodextrin (a food additive that is a polysaccharide), milk protein concentrate, vitamins, and bacteria. There are no sources of added sugar in the ingredient list and zero grams of added sugar shown in the Nutrition Facts, so the 6 grams of total sugars are from naturally occurring lactose in the milk.

Next, look at the label below for a 6-ounce serving of sweetened strawberry yogurt. There are 28 grams of total sugar and 21 grams of added sugar listed on the label. What ingredients are contributing naturally occurring and added sugar in this product?

Container of Zoi Greek Yogurt Strawberry Cream with nutrition and ingredients labels.
Figure 4.36.  Strawberry yogurt with Nutrition Facts and ingredient list. (Image by Tamberly Powell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.)

To answer this question, we again have to look at the ingredients list. Like the plain yogurt, the first ingredient is milk, but this strawberry yogurt also contains cane sugar and strawberries. Based on these ingredients, the added sugar comes from sucrose in cane sugar and the naturally occurring sugar is from the lactose from the milk and the glucose, fructose, and sucrose in the strawberries.

Not all yogurts are created equal, and many of them have less ingredients and less sugar than the example given above with the Greek yogurt. One example is Siggi’s Icelandic style skyr. As you can see in the images below, the ingredients are simple, and there is a lot less sugar than traditional yogurts.

Siggi's Icelandic style skyr strawberry yogurt container showing the brand logo and nutrition facts.
Figure 4.37.  Siggi’s strawberry yogurt and Nutrition Facts. (Image by Tamberly Powell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.)

In the Siggi’s strawberry yogurt, a 5.3 oz (150g) serving has 11 grams of total sugar and 7 grams of added sugar. This is a combination of naturally occurring sugar from the milk and strawberries and added sugar from the cane sugar. However, this product only has 7 grams of added sugar, which is a lot less than the strawberry Greek yogurt with 21 grams of added sugar shown above. It is important to pay attention to labels when shopping for nutrient-dense foods.

Review Questions

References:

attributions

This section is an adaptation of “Sugar: Food Sources, Health Implications, and Label-Reading” in Nutrition: Science and Everyday Applications, V.1.0 by Alice Callahan, Heather Leonard, and Tamberly Powell under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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Introduction to Nutrition and Wellness, 2nd Edition Copyright © 2026 by Janet Colson and Sarah Harris is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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