Free sugars
glucose, fructose, sucrose, dextrose, table sugar, added sugar, free sugar, simple sugar, honey, syrups, fruit juice concentrate
What it is
Simple sugars added to foods during processing or preparation, plus sugars naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juice concentrates. These are the sugars WHO recommends limiting to less than 10% of total energy intake.
Why BOTIA flags it
Free sugars are those added to foods, plus those naturally present in honey, syrups and fruit juices. WHO recommends keeping them below 10% of daily energy intake, and ideally below 5% — that lower target was set because of dental caries. The label tells you they are there, not how much they add up to over the day.
BOTIA CAN
- Detect simple sugars classified as free sugars by WHO criteria.
- Flag their presence in products marketed as natural or healthy.
- Categorise them into the correct WHO free sugar group.
BOTIA CANNOT
- Distinguish between naturally occurring and added sugars in the final product.
- Quantify the exact amount of free sugars present.
- Tell you the total sugar content — check the nutrition label.