Reading labels: where sugar hides

5 min read · Last updated 28 May 2026

The front of a package is designed to sell. The nutrition panel is designed to inform. Both sit on the same product, and only one of them is honest about what is inside.

Start with the serving size

Every figure in the panel applies to one serving, not to the package. A 500 ml bottle is often counted as two servings, so "18 g of sugar" becomes 36 g if you finish it yourself. Find these two lines first: serving size and servings per package.

Then read total carbohydrate, not just sugar

Blood sugar responds to all carbohydrate, not only the line labelled "sugars". A no-added-sugar wholewheat biscuit still delivers carbohydrate from its flour. So the reading order is: serving size → total carbohydrate → sugars → fibre.

Fibre is the good news: three grams or more per serving is worth considering, because that fibre slows the absorption of the carbohydrate beside it.

Sugar's other names in the ingredient list

Ingredients are listed heaviest first. If any of these appears in the first three, the product is sweet, whatever the front of the pack claims:

• Glucose syrup, fructose syrup, corn syrup, invert sugar
• Maltodextrin, dextrose, maltose, sucrose, lactose
• Fruit-juice concentrate, fruit nectar
• Honey, coconut sugar, palm sugar, molasses, caramel

Palm sugar and honey are still sugar. They carry traces of minerals, but their effect on blood glucose is not far from table sugar.

Claims worth doubting

• "No added sugar". Nothing was added, the natural sugar from fruit or milk is still there and still counts.
• "Low fat". Frequently compensated with sugar to keep it palatable. Check the panel.
• "Wholegrain cereal". Read the ingredient order: if sugar is second, the wholegrain is a minority shareholder.
• "Suitable for diabetics". Not a guarantee of anything. Total carbohydrate per serving still decides.