Types of added sugars in packaged foods

"Added sugar" covers sugars introduced during food processing, foods packaged as sweeteners, sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. It is distinct from the sugar naturally present in an ingredient, and the two are read together on a label as: total sugars = natural sugar + added sugar. The list of ingredients that count as added sugar is long and often unfamiliar on a declaration panel — brown sugar, cane juice, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit nectars, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose, malt syrup, maltose, maple syrup, molasses, raw sugar and sucrose.

Sugar is rarely added for sweetness alone. It enhances flavour by balancing bitter or acidic notes and making a product more palatable. It increases shelf life by reducing water activity, acting as a preservative that inhibits the growth of spoilage microorganisms. It improves texture, giving products a soft, moist or chewy feel. It enhances appearance by contributing colour through the Maillard reaction, producing the golden-brown surface of baked goods and other processed foods. It masks strong or undesirable flavours arising from certain ingredients or processing methods. And it has a psychological impact, triggering a pleasurable response in the brain through its effect on dopamine release, creating a sense of comfort and satisfaction.

Because sugar carries this many functions at once, reformulating it out of a product is a process problem as much as a recipe problem. Categories that typically carry high added sugar include sweets and desserts at 10-30gm/serving, sugary beverages at 8-15gm/100ml, breakfast cereals at 4-16gm/100ml, canned and packaged fruit at 12-19gm/half cup, sauces and condiments at 4-10gm/tablespoon, and packaged baked goods at 30-40gm/100gm.