Zero added sugar on a protein bar is not the same as sugar-free

Protein bars put two sugar lines on the same panel. Total sugars is the first one. Added sugars sits under it. Those lines are not synonyms. Treating them as the same number is how "no added sugar" turns into "sugar-free" in a shopping cart, which it is not.

The Food and Drug Administration wrote the split into the Nutrition Facts label so you can see what was put in during processing, and what was already in the milk, fruit, or other ingredients. The American Heart Association uses a tighter daily cap than the label's Daily Value. Neither group is grading your snack. Both are giving you a yardstick. Use it.

Total sugars is the whole pile

FDA's added-sugars page is blunt about the first line. Total sugars includes sugars that are already in nutritious foods, such as the sugar in milk and fruit, plus any added sugars in the product. There is no Daily Value for total sugars. FDA says that is because no recommendation has been set for a total amount to eat in a day.

That matters on a protein bar. Dairy protein can bring lactose. Fruit or chocolate can bring their own sugars. Those grams still count as total sugars. They do not automatically count as added sugars. If you only read total sugars, you will punish a bar for milk sugar that the added-sugars line was built to separate.

Added sugars is the line FDA wants you to use for the Daily Value

Added sugars, on FDA's definition, are sugars put in during processing, such as sucrose or dextrose. They also include foods packaged as sweeteners, such as table sugar, sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. They do not include the sugars that occur naturally in milk, fruit, and vegetables.

The Daily Value for added sugars is 50 grams per day on a 2,000 calorie label. That tracks the Dietary Guidelines for Americans cap that FDA restates on the same page: keep calories from added sugars under 10 percent of total calories. On a 2,000 calorie day, that is 200 calories, which is 50 grams of added sugars.

FDA also tells you how to read the word "includes" on the panel. Added sugars are part of total sugars, not a second pile. The agency's yogurt example is the cleanest picture: 15 grams of total sugars can be 7 grams added plus 8 grams already in the dairy. The 7 grams is 14 percent of the Daily Value. The 8 grams still exist.

The same page gives a quick high/low check. Five percent Daily Value or less is a low source of added sugars. Twenty percent or more is a high source. On a 50 gram Daily Value, 5 percent is 2.5 grams. A bar at 0 grams added sugars is 0 percent of that Daily Value. That is low on the added-sugars line. It is not a free pass on calories, and it is not a sugar-free claim.

AHA draws a tighter daily cap

The American Heart Association's added-sugars page splits sugars the same way FDA does: naturally occurring in fruit and milk, versus sugars and syrups put in during preparation, processing, or at the table. AHA then sets a stricter daily limit than the 10 percent figure on the Nutrition Facts Daily Value.

AHA recommends keeping added sugars at no more than 6 percent of calories each day. For most American women, that is no more than 100 calories a day, or about 6 teaspoons. For most men, no more than 150 calories a day, or about 9 teaspoons. AHA applies that limit to all added sugars. It does not single out high fructose corn syrup as a special villain.

AHA also does the gram math in public. There are four calories in one gram of sugar. Fifteen grams of sugar is 60 calories from sugar, before you count anything else in the food. AHA's soda example: one 12-ounce can of regular soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, or 160 calories, and no nutrition of its own. That is a beverage. A protein bar is a different food. The teaspoon math still works on any added-sugars line you can see.

If you are using AHA's 6 teaspoon cap for women, 25 grams of added sugars fills the day. FDA's 50 gram Daily Value is twice that. The label percent is built on 50 grams. AHA is asking you to spend fewer discretionary calories on the added line.

Zero added is not sugar-free

Here is the honest version. A protein bar can print 0 grams of added sugars and still print 2 grams of total sugars. That 2 grams is not a rounding error you get to ignore. It is sugar already in the recipe, often from dairy. FDA does not give total sugars a Daily Value. It still prints the grams.

Sugar-free is a different claim, with different rules. Zero sugar is a different sentence. Neither one is what 0 grams added sugars means. The added line can be zero while the total line is not. Anyone who sells the first number as the second number is skipping a row on the panel.

Calories are a third row. FDA's added-sugars page is clear that extra added sugars make it harder to meet nutrient needs inside a calorie budget. Taking added sugars to zero does not make a 200 calorie bar a low calorie food. The calorie line is still the calorie line. Pair any 0 gram added-sugars number with that fact, or you are doing marketing, not labeling.

The ingredient list still has other names for sugar

If a package has no Nutrition Facts panel, AHA says to read the ingredient list. Sugar shows up under more names than "sugar." Words that end in "ose," such as sucrose or maltose, count. So do high fructose corn syrup, molasses, cane sugar, corn sweetener, raw sugar, syrup, honey, and fruit juice concentrates. FDA's added-sugars definition already includes several of those.

The added-sugars line is required. Use it. Then glance at the ingredients. If the added line is zero and the list still leads with syrup, something is off. If the added line is zero and the list names dairy, fruit, or an alternative sweetener, that can be consistent. Do not invent gram amounts the panel does not print.

Sugar alcohols, when they are in the recipe, often appear as their own line. They are not the added-sugars line. They are not a reason to call the bar sugar-free.

A 30-second check for "no added sugar" bars

• Read added sugars in grams and as percent Daily Value. Zero grams is 0 percent of FDA's 50 gram Daily Value.
• Read total sugars on the line above. If it is not zero, the bar is not sugar-free.
• Read calories. Zero added sugars does not make the bar a low calorie food.
• Confirm the product is food with a Nutrition Facts panel, not a supplement.
• Scan ingredients for syrups, honey, and juice concentrates if the added line and the list seem to disagree.
• Do not convert a 0 gram added-sugars line into a health claim. FDA's own page says added sugars are one piece of the label, not the whole diet.

People who work long shifts buy bars because a vending machine is a dessert aisle. The added-sugars line is how you tell a protein bar from a candy bar with a gym font. It is not how you tell a 200 calorie snack from a diet food.

What 0g added sugars means on our panel

STAT Energy Bars print 0g added sugars and 2g total sugars on each flavor. That is not sugar-free, not zero sugar, and not a low calorie food. Calories sit in the 200-210 range. Protein is 16-19g. Each bar prints 100mg of caffeine from coffee fruit extract. The protein blend is whey concentrate, milk protein isolate, and whey isolate. Allulose is in the ingredients; allulose grams are not printed. Sugar alcohol is printed (2g on Chocolate and Peanut Butter Espresso, 1g on Salted Caramel Coffee). This is food, not a dietary supplement. Botanicals are flavor only.

References

• U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Added Sugars on the Nutrition Facts Label. fda.gov
• American Heart Association. Added Sugars. heart.org