The word “Includes” before “Added Sugars” on a Nutrition Facts label means that the added sugars listed on that line are already counted within the Total Sugars number above it. It’s not a separate category on top of total sugars. It’s a subset, indented underneath to show that some portion of the total sugar in that product was put there during manufacturing rather than occurring naturally in the ingredients.
This small formatting detail confuses a lot of people, so here’s a quick example. If a flavored yogurt lists 15 g of Total Sugars and directly below that says “Includes 9 g Added Sugars,” it means 9 of those 15 grams came from sweeteners the manufacturer added. The remaining 6 grams are naturally occurring sugar from the milk (lactose) and any fruit in the product.
Total Sugars vs. Added Sugars
Total Sugars captures every type of sugar in a product, whether it was there to begin with or stirred in at a factory. Naturally occurring sugars are the ones found in whole fruits, vegetables, and milk. A plain glass of milk has about 12 grams of sugar, all of it lactose, which is natural. A banana has roughly 14 grams, all fructose from the fruit itself. Neither of those counts as added sugar.
Added sugars are sweeteners introduced during processing or preparation. The FDA defines them as sugars added during manufacturing (like table sugar or dextrose), sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. The key distinction: they contribute calories without the vitamins, minerals, or fiber that come packaged with naturally sweet whole foods. When you eat an apple, the fiber slows down how quickly your body absorbs the sugar. When you drink a soda sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, there’s no fiber to moderate that absorption.
Why the Label Matters
Before the FDA updated the Nutrition Facts label in 2020, there was no way to tell how much of a product’s sugar was added versus naturally present. A container of fruit-flavored yogurt might show 25 grams of total sugar, but you had no idea whether most of that came from milk and fruit or from spoonfuls of cane sugar dumped in during production. The “Includes Added Sugars” line solved that problem.
The daily reference point printed on labels is 50 grams of added sugar for a standard 2,000-calorie diet, and the percent Daily Value (%DV) next to the number tells you how a single serving stacks up against that limit. Federal dietary guidelines are stricter in practice: the CDC recommends no more than 10 grams of added sugars per meal for adolescents and adults, and zero added sugar for children under 11.
The Special Case of Honey and Maple Syrup
Pure, single-ingredient sweeteners like a bottle of honey or a jug of maple syrup follow slightly different rules. Because every gram of sugar in these products is technically the product itself, the FDA does not require them to print “Includes Xg Added Sugars.” They do, however, still have to show a percent Daily Value for added sugars so you can see how a serving contributes to your daily intake. Many of these products use a small dagger symbol (†) that leads to a footnote explaining the distinction. The logic: honey in a bottle isn’t “added” to anything yet, but once you pour it on your oatmeal, it functions the same way any other added sweetener does in your diet.
How Added Sugar Hides in Ingredient Lists
Manufacturers don’t always write “sugar” on the ingredient list. Researchers at UC San Francisco have identified at least 61 different names for sugar used on food labels. Some of the most common include high-fructose corn syrup, dextrose, maltose, cane juice crystals, barley malt syrup, rice syrup, agave nectar, coconut sugar, corn syrup solids, evaporated cane juice, and fruit juice concentrate.
Spreading sweetness across several of these names serves a practical purpose for manufacturers. Ingredients are listed by weight, from most to least. If a product uses three different sweeteners instead of one, each appears further down the list, making the product look less sugar-heavy at a glance. The “Includes Added Sugars” line on the Nutrition Facts panel cuts through this tactic by giving you a single combined number regardless of how many sweetener names appear in the fine print.
Foods That Catch People Off Guard
The products most likely to surprise you aren’t candy bars or soda. They’re items that seem healthy or savory. Flavored yogurts can contain 15 to 20 grams of added sugar per serving. Granola and many breakfast cereals often pack 10 to 12 grams per bowl. Jarred pasta sauces, salad dressings, and even bread frequently contain several grams per serving. Individually, those numbers seem small. Across a full day of meals and snacks, they add up fast.
Comparing two versions of the same product is the simplest way to use the label. Pick up a flavored oatmeal and a plain one. The flavored packet might show 12 grams of added sugar where the plain version shows zero. The total sugar in the plain oatmeal (a gram or two) comes entirely from the oats themselves. That side-by-side comparison makes the “Includes Added Sugars” line genuinely useful for everyday grocery decisions.
Reading the Label Step by Step
Start at Total Sugars. That’s your big-picture number. Then look directly below it for the indented line that reads “Includes Xg Added Sugars.” Subtract the added sugars from the total, and the difference is roughly how much natural sugar the product contains. Finally, check the %DV next to added sugars. As a general rule, 5% DV or less per serving is considered low, and 20% DV or more is high.
If you’re scanning ingredient lists too, look for any of the 61-plus names for sugar, especially in the first five or six ingredients. When a sweetener appears that high on the list, sugar is one of the product’s primary ingredients by weight. Pairing that ingredient-list scan with the added sugars number gives you a complete picture of how much sweetener you’re actually getting and where it comes from.