How to read honey and added sugar on food labels

Added sugar is about how the ingredient is used

On the US Nutrition Facts label, total sugars include sugars naturally present in foods such as fruit and milk as well as sugars added during processing. Added sugars include table sugar, syrups and honey used as sweeteners. The distinction helps explain why a plain yoghurt and a sweetened yoghurt can show similar total sugars but different added-sugar amounts.

WHO uses the term free sugars for sugars added by manufacturers, cooks or consumers, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and concentrates. Its recommendation is population guidance, not an individual prescription. Local labels and policy language can differ, so use the panel format in your country.

Names to scan for on an ingredient list

Sugar may appear as sugar, sucrose, glucose, dextrose, fructose, maltose, invert sugar, corn syrup, glucose syrup, rice syrup, molasses, agave syrup, fruit-juice concentrate or honey. A product may use more than one kind. The order is meaningful: ingredients are generally listed by weight in descending order, so several sweeteners can distribute across the list.

A name on this list does not prove how much of the product is sugar. Use the added-sugars field when present and compare the serving size with what you expect to eat. Front claims such as “no refined sugar” can still accompany honey, dates or syrup; read the full label.

Honey has a special label case

Pure honey sold as a single-ingredient sugar or syrup may use a special FDA label format: the added-sugars percent Daily Value is shown, while grams and percent may appear in a footnote or be omitted from the standard line. This avoids making a single-ingredient sweetener look as if sugar was added to a different food. When honey is an ingredient in yoghurt, granola or a sauce, it still counts as added sugar in that product.

Raw, local, manuka and organic are not synonyms for low sugar. They describe sourcing or processing claims, not permission to count honey as a whole-fruit serving or as a treatment.

A quick shelf comparison

Compare plain yoghurt with a honey-flavoured yoghurt. First identify the serving size, then check total sugars and added sugars. Plain milk’s lactose is naturally present; honey added to the flavoured cup is a sweetener. If you prefer more sweetness, you can add a measured amount yourself and keep the quantity visible.

Compare two breakfast bars: one lists dates and honey, another lists cane sugar and glucose syrup. Their ingredients differ, and dates should not automatically be counted as added sugar merely because they taste sweet. Check total and added sugars where the label reports them, then consider the bar’s protein, ingredients, serving size and how often you eat it.

Compare whole fruit with fruit juice. WHO counts juice sugars as free sugars; an intact piece of fruit is not treated that way. Whole fruit is a useful default without needing to ban juice or describe a small amount of honey as poison.

Make the choice useful, not moral

Optimally’s food guidance prefers whole fruit as a regular fruit choice and does not present honey or added sugar as dietary foundations. It also avoids calling foods “toxic” or implying that a label can diagnose a health problem. A food score is a curated, non-clinical summary; a low or high rating does not prescribe a personal sugar limit. Follow individualized advice if you have diabetes, dental concerns, an eating disorder history or another condition.

Common questions