Table 4.

Definitions of “added sugars” and their use in governmental reports [Source: Buyken et al. (63)].

“Sugars” are generally defined as “mono- and disaccharides.” Accordingly, “added sugars” is mostly considered to be “added mono- and disaccharides.” • WHO report (62): introduced the term “free sugars” as “all monosaccharides and di-saccharides added to foods by the manufacturer, cook, or consumer, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, and fruit juices.” • US: United States Food and Drug Administration (US-FDA)-(64) and United States Department of Agriculture: Added Sugars are all sugars that are either added during the processing of foods, or are packaged as such, and these include sugars (free, mono- and disaccharides), syrups, naturally occurring sugars that are isolated from a whole food and concentrated so that sugar is the primary component (e.g., fruit juice concentrates), and other caloric sweeteners. • UK: SACN report (39) adopted the term “free sugars from WHO,” which now replaces the terms “added sugars” and “non- milk extrinsic sugars” (NMES) used previously. “Free sugars' comprises all monosaccharides* and disaccharides* added to foods by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and unsweetened fruit juices. Under this definition, it includes lactose (the sugar in milk), when naturally present in milk and milk products, and the sugars contained within the cellular structure of foods (particularly fruits and vegetables) are excluded.” • EU: EFSA report (65): added sugars are “mono- and disaccharides and starch hydrolysates (e.g., glucose syrup, fructose syrup, maltodextrins) added during food preparation and manufacturing.”