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Guide · Added sugar · Updated October 21, 2026

Added sugar vs. total sugar

Total sugars counts all the sugar in a food, including the sugar naturally in fruit and milk. Added sugars counts only the sugars put in during processing: table sugar, syrups, honey and concentrated juices. Both lines are on the US Nutrition Facts label, and the Daily Value for added sugars is 50 g.12

What the new guidelines say

The 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans go further than the old “under 10% of calories” limit: they say no amount of added sugars is recommended.3

Four label checks

  1. Find the “Includes Added Sugars” line under Total Sugars. That's the number to watch.
  2. Read the ingredient list for sugar by other names: cane sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, honey, agave, dextrose and fruit juice concentrate.
  3. Know what 0 g means. A label may round sugars under 0.5 g per serving down to 0 g.4
  4. “No added sugar” isn't “low calorie.” A food that says it has no added sugar must also say it isn't a low calorie food, unless it is one, and point you to the nutrition panel.5

Flavor from the spice jar

Our first add-on jar holds one ingredient: ground cassia cinnamon.

One pouch of FRAMEWORK OATS has 0 g added sugar, with 19 g protein and 9 g fiber. See nutrition information for fat content. Not a low calorie food. See nutrition information for sugar and calorie content.

Sources

  1. FDA, Added sugars on the Nutrition Facts label
  2. FDA, Daily Value on the Nutrition Facts label (fiber 28 g, protein 50 g, added sugars 50 g)
  3. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, The Nutrition Source, on the 2025–2030 Dietary Guidelines (added sugars), January 9, 2026
  4. 21 CFR 101.9(c)(6): rounding sugars and added sugars under 0.5 g to 0 g
  5. 21 CFR 101.60(c)(2): “no added sugar” claims and the low-calorie statement that goes with them