Total Sugars vs Added Sugars: How to Read Both Lines on Any Label
Total sugars vs added sugars comes down to one word on the panel: "Includes". Total Sugars counts every gram of sugar in the food, natural and added together. The indented line below it counts only the sugars put in during processing, plus table sugar, syrups, honey and concentrated juices. Added sits inside total, so you never add the two lines. Only added sugars carry a %DV.
Total sugars vs added sugars on a US Nutrition Facts panel
Almost every US panel carries one sugars line with a second indented under it. A product with under 1 g of added sugars and no sugar claims may skip the indented line and print "Not a significant source of added sugars" instead. The FDA's page on added sugars on the Nutrition Facts label explains the wording: "includes" means added sugars are already counted inside the total.
| Line on the panel | What it counts | Daily Value |
|---|---|---|
| Total Sugars | Every gram of sugar in the food, including the lactose in milk and the fructose in fruit | None. The FDA has set no Daily Value for total sugars. |
| Includes Xg Added Sugars | Sugars added in processing, sugars sold as sweeteners, syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices | 50 g per day at 2,000 calories |
Before that second line existed, as Harvard's The Nutrition Source notes, no shopper could tell the two apart. For the definitions behind the lines, see what counts as an added sugar.
Total minus added: the sugar the food brought with it
Subtract the indented line from the one above it. What is left is the sugar the food arrived with. A wide gap points to fruit or dairy. A gap near zero means the sweetness was put in.
Treat it as a reading aid, not a health score. The WHO's 2015 sugars guideline and the NHS both count fruit juice sugars as free sugars even when a US panel shows 0 g added.
Turning the added sugars %DV into grams and teaspoons
The Daily Value for added sugars is 50 grams a day at 2,000 calories, so the arithmetic is easy. Halve the %DV and you have the grams: 10% DV is 5 g, and 30% DV is 15 g.
Grams turn into teaspoons at about 4.2 g each. So 30% DV is roughly 3.6 teaspoons, and the full 50 g Daily Value is about 12 teaspoons.
The FDA's added sugars labeling deck gives the quick read: 5% DV or less is low, 20% DV or more is high. The %DV is per serving, not per package.
To skip the sums, the Sugar Grams to Teaspoons Converter handles grams, teaspoons, sugar cubes and calories. For your own ceiling, see how much sugar per day the guidelines allow.
Three worked labels, front to panel
Three shelf pairs follow, every panel figure from the manufacturer's own published label. USDA FoodData Central holds the same branded data for thousands of packs. Boxed cereal sits in the guide to sugar in breakfast cereal.
A 100% juice next to a juice drink
| Product | Serving | Total Sugars | Added Sugars | Total minus added | Added %DV | Teaspoons added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| V8 Original 100% Vegetable Juice | 8 fl oz (240 mL) | 7 g | 0 g | 7 g | 0% | 0 |
| SunnyD Tangy Original | 8 fl oz (240 mL) | 14 g | 12 g | 2 g | 24% | about 2.9 |
The V8 is rebuilt from concentrate and still declares 0 g added. Under 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6)(iii), juice concentrated beyond single strength counts as added sugar, but concentrate that simply rebuilds a 100% juice does not. Even so, 0 g added is not the same as no free sugars, since the NHS counts unsweetened vegetable juice sugars among them.
SunnyD lists high fructose corn syrup second, ahead of any juice, and its panel says so with 12 g added. The Fruit Sugar Chart covers 50 or more fruits per serving and per 100 g.
Canned peaches in juice, in heavy syrup, and with no sugar added
| Front wording | Serving | Total Sugars | Calories | Sweetener in the ingredient list |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peaches in 100% juice | 1/2 cup (124 g) | 13 g | 70 | None. Peach juice and pear juice |
| Peaches in heavy syrup | 1/2 cup (128 g) | 21 g | 100 | High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar |
| Peaches, no sugar added | 1/2 cup (121 g) | 7 g | 35 | No sugar. Acesulfame potassium and sucralose |
The gap here is the syrup: 14 g more sugar per serving than the no sugar added can, with three sweeteners in the list after the peaches and water: high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup and sugar.
One warning. Del Monte's published panels for these cans use the older format, with no separate added sugars figure. Read the indented line off the physical can.
Jarred pasta sauce, regular next to a no sugar added jar
| Product | Serving | Total Sugars | Added Sugars | Total minus added | Added %DV | Teaspoons added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prego Traditional Italian Sauce | 1/2 cup (120 mL) | 9 g | 4 g | 5 g | 8% | just under 1 |
| Rao's Homemade Marinara | 1/2 cup (125 g) | 4 g | 0 g | 4 g | 0% | 0 |
Tomatoes bring their own sugar, and that is the 4 to 5 g both jars share. Prego lists Sugar third, and its 4 g added shows up as 8% DV.
The Rao's list runs tomatoes, olive oil, onions, salt, garlic, basil, pepper, oregano. No sweetener appears anywhere.
When 0 g added sugars is not really zero
A serving under 0.5 g may be declared as zero under 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6)(iii). Three small servings of a 0.4 g product is 1.2 g, not 0 g. That rarely matters once; it does across a day of snacks.
Sugar alcohols, allulose and non-nutritive sweeteners sit on neither sugar line. A product can taste sweet, show 0 g added sugars and still be sweetened, as with stevia and the other non-sugar sweeteners and the zero sugar versions of cola.
What front-of-pack sugar claims are checked against
| Claim | Judged on | US condition | What the panel can still show |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar free | The Total Sugars line | Under 0.5 g of sugars per reference amount and per labeled serving | Sweeteners on neither sugar line |
| No sugar added | The recipe, not a line | No sugars added in processing or packaging, for a food that normally comes sweetened | A high Total Sugars figure |
| Reduced sugar | A named reference food | At least 25 percent less sugar per reference amount than that food | A large number, just smaller than before |
| Low sugar | Nothing | The FDA does not define this claim for sugars | Anything at all |
The first three conditions sit in 21 CFR 101.60(c). "Low sugar" is absent there, so treat it as marketing.
UK and EU labels only print one sugars line
Cross the Atlantic and the second line disappears. Under Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, the mandatory nutrition declaration lists carbohydrate and "of which sugars" per 100 g or per 100 ml. There is no added sugars line.
The NHS puts it plainly in Sugar: the facts: that figure covers sugars from every source. Mela and Woolner (2018) record the Codex labelling committee backing total sugars only in 2010. The ingredient list does the rest.
Step 1: per 100 g against a plain baseline
Find the same food whose list carries no sugar, syrup, honey, juice, concentrate or sweetener. A peanut butter of 100% peanuts is the baseline for a regular jar. The difference between the two "of which sugars" figures per 100 g is your estimate, never a legal figure.
The peach cans, converted to per 100 g: 5.8 g with no sugar added, 10.5 g in juice, 16.4 g in heavy syrup. The Sugar in Food Checker looks up 130 everyday foods per serving and per 100 g.
Step 2: confirm with the ingredient list
An estimate means little until you know something was added. Paste the list into the Hidden Sugar Finder, which highlights every added sugar. If nothing lights up, the sugars are most likely native.
Step 3: rate the number
Type the "of which sugars" figure into the Food Label Sugar Decoder for the UK traffic-light rating, the real per-serving grams and teaspoons, and a plain-English verdict.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I add total sugars and added sugars together?
No, and doing so double counts. "Includes" means the added figure is already part of the total. A sauce showing 9 g total sugars and 4 g added holds 9 g, not 13 g: 4 g put in, 5 g from the tomatoes.
Why is there no %DV next to total sugars?
Because the FDA has set no Daily Value for total sugars, and no recommendation for how much to eat in a day. The 50 g Daily Value belongs to added sugars alone, which is why only one line carries a percentage.
Does 0 g added sugars mean nothing was added?
Not always. Anything under 0.5 g per serving may be printed as 0 g, so small servings quietly add up. Sugar alcohols, allulose and non-nutritive sweeteners land on neither sugar line, so a sweetened product can still read 0 g.
Which line should I actually track?
Track added sugars. That is the line the AHA limits are written against, and the only one with a Daily Value. The WHO limit covers free sugars, which also count the juice sugars this line leaves out. Keep half an eye on total sugars for the whole load.
My UK pack has no added sugars line, so how do I estimate it?
Compare the "of which sugars" figure per 100 g against the plainest version of that food, one whose list has no sweetener. The difference estimates what was added. Then read the ingredient list to confirm, since subtraction alone cannot prove it.
Why do plain milk and plain yogurt show sugars at all?
Because lactose is native to dairy. Plain yogurt or a glass of milk can show a hefty Total Sugars figure and still print 0 g added sugars, and the panel is right on both counts. The sugar came with the food.
Read the indented line first
Three habits cover almost every pack. Read the indented line before the one above it. Halve its %DV to get grams. Then check the gap: sweetness that came with the food, or sweetness added to it.
Rather not type every label into a notes app? Sugar Lens estimates added sugar in grams from a photo of your food, and you review and confirm every entry before it saves. It is free on the App Store for iPhone, listed as Sugar Tracker: Food Scanner, and it takes a typed number too.
This is general label-reading information, not medical advice; if you have diabetes or another condition, follow your clinician's numbers.