Table 1.

Definitions.

Term	Definition
Sugars	Conventionally describes chemically the monosaccharides (glucose, fructose, galactose) and disaccharides (sucrose, lactose, maltose). Sugars includes those occurring naturally in foods and drinks or added during processing and preparation.
Free Sugars	‘All monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods by the manufacturer, cook, or consumer, plus sugars naturally present in honey, fruit juices, and syrups’ [11]. Under this definition, sugars present in intact fruits and vegetables and lactose naturally present in milk and milk products are excluded.
Total Sugars	Currently required for UK nutrition labels. Includes sugars occurring naturally in foods and beverages and those added during processing and preparation.
Added Sugars	A term used in the United States that excludes sugars in juiced or pureed fruits and vegetables that are included in WHO and UK adopted definition of free sugars. ‘Syrups and other caloric sweeteners used as a sweetener in other food products. Naturally occurring sugars such as those in fruit or milk are not added sugars’ [12]. Will be a required subline under ‘total sugars’ for US food labels from 2020 [13].
Lactose	A disaccharide of glucose and galactose. It is often called ‘milk sugar’ because 100% of ‘total sugars’ in milk are lactose. In natural/Greek yogurt ~80% of the sugar is lactose, with the remainder being galactose generated from lactose fermentation [14].

Adapted with permission from Moore et al. [15].