Added Sugar

Australians consume around 14 teaspoons of added sugar a day - two more than the 12 teaspoons limit recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Eating too many foods high in added sugars can lead to weight gain, an increased risk of obesity related diseases, and is a major risk factor in tooth decay.

What is sugar?

Sugar is a type of carbohydrate that occurs naturally in foods such as milk and fruit and can also be added to foods and drinks in various forms by the manufacturer or the consumer.

Total sugars of a product refers to the combination of sugars that are naturally present and those that are added.
Intrinsic and milk sugars occur in foods and drinks such as intact fruits and vegetables (i.e. fructose) and milk (i.e. lactose).
Added sugars are all other sugars. It is these sugars that are associated with poor health outcomes and we should avoid. They are often added by manufacturers to give greater sweetness or other desired characteristics.

What is added sugar?

There is currently no regulatory definition of added sugars in the Australia and New Zealand Food Standards Code (FSANZ). As of late 2022, FSANZ have commenced a targeted and public consultation around added sugar labelling including the definition, that will underpin how added sugars are quantified on the NIP. As part of this consultation, we have proposed a definition that includes all sugars associated with poor health outcomes. Added sugars can be defined as sugars added during cooking or manufacturing or naturally present in processed fruit and vegetables when sugars are no longer in their natural cellular structure.

Estimating added sugar

Information on added sugars is not currently required on a food label, meaning consumers have no easy way to identify the added sugars they should be avoiding. Furthermore, added sugar ingredients are often disguised under many different names so it makes it hard to identify them. We have developed a 10-step method that analyses the ingredients and nutrition information available on a food’s label to estimate its added sugar content

Our calculated added sugar values can be seen on the FoodSwitch app. Each food item has been assigned an added sugar value per 100g using the above method. A blue icon titled “Added Sugar” can be found under the product information of a scanned item. The calculated added sugar value has been expressed in two ways:

The calculated value in grams per 100 grams.

The approximate number of teaspoons rounded to the nearest half teaspoon. One teaspoon (1 tsp.) is equal to 4.2grams of sugar

If the product is declared to have “no added sugar” or is found to have 0g of added sugar, the icon will read as “Not present”.

You should look for products with no or lower added sugar.