A proposed definition for added sugars
The Food and Drug Administration in the March 3, 2014, issue of the Federal Register proposed to define ‘‘added sugars’’ as those “either added during the processing of foods, or are packaged as such, and include sugars (free, mono- and disaccharides), syrups, naturally occurring sugars that are isolated from a whole food and concentrated so that sugar is the primary component (e.g., fruit juice concentrates), and other caloric sweeteners.” Under the proposed definition, names of added sugar would include brown sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, malt sugar, molasses, raw sugar, turbinado, sugar, trehalose and sucrose.
The proposed definition for added sugar came under an F.D.A. proposed rule on revisions to the Nutrition Facts Panel, including the listing of added sugars. The F.D.A. in the July 27, 2015, issue of the Federal Register proposed including the per cent daily value for added sugars on the Nutrition Facts Panel.
Some consumers are aware of added sugars. The International Food Information Council Foundation’s Food and Health Survey 2015 asked consumers if they ever had considered whether foods or beverages contained certain items when they made purchasing decisions. Sixty-one per cent of respondents said they had considered added sugars, which ranked below sugars in general (66%) but above low-calorie sweeteners in general (57%) and high-fructose corn syrup (54%). Women, older people and parents were more likely to say they had considered added sugars.
