Free Sugars

Free sugars are sugars added to foods or drinks by manufacturers, cooks, or consumers, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices, and fruit juice concentrates. The World Health Organization uses this definition when discussing sugar intake and distinguishes free sugars from sugars that remain naturally enclosed within the cellular structure of intact fruits and vegetables and from sugars naturally present in milk .¹

The category includes common monosaccharides and disaccharides such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose when they meet the definition above. A sugar does not become a different molecule when it is classified as free; the distinction is based on how the sugar occurs in the food or drink. For example, fructose within an intact piece of fruit is not classified as free sugar, while fructose in fruit juice is .¹

Free sugars are also not exactly the same as total sugars or added sugars. Total sugars include all sugars in a food, regardless of source. Added-sugar definitions used in food labeling overlap substantially with free sugars but can differ in details across regulatory systems. The term should therefore be interpreted according to the definition being used, especially in research or dietary guidance .¹