Nutritional data can be shown in a variety of places, including the front and rear of packs.

LABELS AT THE BACK OF THE PACKAGE

On nutrition labels, the "of which sugars" amount, which is a component of the carbohydrate information, should be carefully inspected. Despite the fact that this does not reveal the number of free sugars, it is a valuable tool for label comparison and can direct you toward overall lower-sugar items.

On the nutrition label, look for the "Carbohydrates of which sugars" figure. The amount of sugars in 100g is considered to be at a medium level if it falls between these numbers. The following benchmarks are used to determine if a product is high or low in sugar:

• HIGH: ≥ 22.5g of total sugars per 100g
• LOW: ≤ 5g of total sugars per 100g

The "of which sugars" number refers to the overall amount of sugars from all sources, including free sugars, milk sugars, and fruit and vegetable sugars.

For instance, a serving of plain yoghurt may contain up to 8g, however none of these sugars are free sugars because they are entirely derived from milk. The same is applied to a single serving of fruit. Depending on the size, variety, and state of ripeness of the fruit chosen, an apple may have about 11g of total sugar. But unless the fruit is juiced or puréed, the sugar in fruit is not regarded as free sugars.

This indicates that even if two foods have the same total quantity of sugar, choosing one that contains fruit or milk will be better than choosing one that contains a lot of free sugars.

Check the ingredients list to see if the product has a lot of ADDED SUGARS. You may occasionally encounter a number that says "Carbohydrate" alone rather than "Carbohydrate (of which sugars)".

UNDERSTANDING THE INGREDIENT LIST

The ingredients list on the container might give you an idea of whether a food is high in free sugars. The ingredients list, always begins with the element that is present in the greatest quantity, must contain the sugars added to foods and beverages. In other words, if sugar is listed near the top of the list, the item is probably high in free sugars.

Be wary of other terms like cane sugar, honey, brown sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice concentrates/purées, corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, glucose, crystalline sucrose, nectars, maple syrups, dextrose, maltose, molasses, and treacle that are used to describe the sugars added to food and beverages.

LABELS AT THE FRONT OF THE PACKAGE

Some food packaging has labels with nutrition information on the front. This includes recommendations for reference intakes (RIs), which can include sugar, for various nutrients on labels that use the colours red, amber, and green.

You can quickly determine whether a food has a high, medium, or low level of sugars thanks to color-coded labels:

• RED = HIGH (≥ 22.5g of sugar per 100g or ≥ 27g per portion)
• AMBER = MEDIUM (≥ 5g but ≤ 22.5g of sugar per 100g)
• GREEN = LOW (≤ 5g of sugar per 100g)

The amount of sugar in the product is sometimes indicated on packing labels as a percentage of the RI. RIs are recommendations for the typical daily intake of certain nutrients and energy needed for a healthy diet. The recommended daily consumption of total sugars is 90g, including 30g of "free sugars."