Source: The WISEcode Standard v1.0, Sections 3.1.1 and 5.4.
The short answer
Only added sugars count toward the sugar penalty. Sugars that occur naturally in a whole-food ingredient are not counted.
How the Standard defines it
Added Sugar Load is the share of a product's total calories that comes from sugars added during formulation. The denominator is total calories per serving; the numerator is calories from added sugars per serving. Total Sugar, as printed on the Nutrition Facts Panel, is not the input to this calculation.
What normally counts as added
- Cane sugar, beet sugar, sucrose, dextrose, glucose, fructose and invert sugars
- Honey, maple syrup, molasses, agave, brown rice syrup and corn syrups including HFCS
- Fruit juice concentrates used as sweeteners rather than as the characterising fruit
- Sugars carried in by a compound ingredient, such as a chocolate coating or a seasoning blend
What normally does not count
- Lactose in plain milk or unsweetened yogurt
- Fructose in whole or pureed fruit and in unsweetened single-strength juice
- Sugars naturally present in vegetables and grains
Why the distinction matters
A plain yogurt and a sweetened yogurt can show similar Total Sugar figures while receiving very different penalties, because only one of them has sugar that was added. If your declared figure for added sugars is missing or clearly wrong, the score will be calculated from an estimate instead.
Related reading
- How the Sugar Penalty Is Calculated on Your Product Score
- When Added Sugar Data Is Missing: How Imputation Works
- Sweeteners, Sugar Alcohols and HFCS: Scored as Ingredients, Not as Sugar
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