Free versus Natural Sugar

We all know that eating fruit is better for us than eating doughnuts. One is essential to keep us healthy, the other, perhaps, nearly essential to avoid.

Natural Sugar

The sugars found in fruit and milk are typically known as “naturally occuring sugars” and especially in fruit, come a long side benefical nutrients such as fibre, vitamins and minerals.

Free Sugar

The WHO definition of term “free sugars” refers to monosaccharides (such as glucose, fructose) and disaccharides (such as sucrose or table sugar) added to foods and drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.

WHO guidelines

**** The WHO guideline does not refer to the sugars in fresh fruits and vegetables, and sugars naturally present in milk, because there is no reported evidence of adverse effects of consuming these sugars.

**** WHO has issued recommendations to reduce intake of free sugars throughout the life course. In both adults and children, WHO recommends reducing the intake of free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake. The WHO recommends that ‘free’ sugars make up no more than 10% of daily kilojoule intake to prevent unhealthy weight gain and dental caries. For an adult of a healthy body mass index (BMI), this amounts works out to about 12 teaspoons (or 50grams) of ‘free’ sugar per day.

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1) https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/nutrition/Pages/Sugar.aspx

https://sugar.ca/sugar-basics/carbohydrate-and-sugars-terminology

https://www.who.int/europe/publications/m/item/sugars-factsheet