Most nutrition labels give consumers information about the total sugars in products. However, nutrition guidelines and dietary recommendations from expert authorities relate to limiting ‘added’ or ‘free’ sugars in the diet. This paper clarifies what these are and shows that ‘free’ sugars are most relevant for health risks, but highlights a number of challenges for wider use of ‘free’ sugars in public health communication and nutrition labeling.
Relative to total and added sugars, the term “free sugars” best conveys the nature and sources of dietary sugars that are most consistently related to positive energy balance, diabetes, and dental caries.