🍬 Sugar

Sugar is sucrose, ordinary table sugar. Under an EU directive, white sugar is purified crystallised sucrose with a polarisation of at least 99.7 °Z and no more than 0.06% moisture. ⁸ 100 g provides 387 kcal and 99.8 g of sucrose, with no protein or fat. ¹⁰ In dairy products it is an added ingredient.

Not to be confused with lactose. A sucrose molecule is made of glucose and fructose, while lactose, the milk sugar, is made of glucose and galactose. Lactose occurs naturally in milk: cow's milk contains 3.6 to 5.5%, on average 4.8%. ¹²

Condensed milk. In sweetened condensed milk the water phase must contain 62.5–64.5% sugar. This solution creates a high osmotic pressure, so most microbes die or cannot grow, and the can is not sterilised after filling. The finished product holds about 45% sucrose under the US standard and 43.5% under the British one. ⁴

Ice cream and yoghurt. In ice cream sugar adds sweetness and solids and affects hardness: the more sugar, the lower the freezing point and the softer the texture. ⁵ In yoghurt sugar is added on its own or in a fruit preparation, which usually contains 50–55% ordinary sugar. ⁶

In spirit drinks. In the EU a drink may be called a liqueur only if it contains at least 100 g of sweetening products per litre; the threshold is 70 g for cherry liqueurs and 80 g for those flavoured with gentian or wormwood. ¹¹

What the WHO advises. Free sugars should provide less than 10% of daily energy, ideally less than 5%: about 50 g and 25 g for an adult on 2,000 kcal. ¹² Free sugars are those added by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, plus the sugars in honey, syrups and juices; the lactose in milk is not one of them. ¹ In 2022 EFSA could not set a safe upper limit and advises eating added sugars as little as possible. ³

What the label says. The "sugars" line in the nutrition table covers all simple sugars, including lactose. ⁷ "Low sugars" may be claimed with no more than 5 g per 100 g (2.5 g per 100 ml for drinks), "sugars-free" with no more than 0.5 g. "No added sugars" is allowed only if no sugars or other sweetening foods were added; if sugars occur naturally, the label must also say "contains naturally occurring sugars". ⁹

Why it matters to you. The 4–5 g of "sugars" per 100 g in plain milk is natural lactose, not added sugar. ⁷¹² Added sugar shows up in the ingredients list. A yoghurt with "no added sugars" can still taste sweet from lactose or fruit, and the note about naturally occurring sugars warns you of that. ⁹