Hidden Names for Sugar on US Food Labels

Added sugars may appear on labels under many names: UCSF's SugarScience team counts at least 61, from dextrose and evaporated cane juice to brown rice syrup and fruit juice concentrate. Each sweetener is listed under its own name, so a single product can carry three or four of them. The fastest check is the Added Sugars line on the Nutrition Facts panel, which totals them for you. Then a few spelling clues in the ingredient list give most of the names away.

Key takeaways

• UCSF SugarScience lists at least 61 names for sugar on food labels. Longer lists of "200 names" mostly count spelling and brand variants.
• Four clues catch most of them: "-ose" endings, plus the words "syrup", "sugar", and "nectar" or "juice concentrate".
• Sugar alcohols, allulose, stevia, sucralose, and the natural sugar in whole fruit or milk are not counted as added sugars.
• The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines say no amount of added sugars is recommended and suggest no more than 10 grams per meal.

How many names does sugar have on food labels?

There are at least 61, according to the UCSF SugarScience "Hidden in Plain Sight" page. You may also see lists of 200 names for sugar. Those lists aren't wrong so much as generous: the total depends on whether you count every spelling, brand name, and regional variant as its own entry.

Ingredients are listed by weight, from most to least. When a recipe splits its sweetness between cane sugar, brown rice syrup, and dextrose, each lands lower than a single sugar would. Brands also choose sweeteners for jobs like browning and moisture. Either way, sugar can be the biggest ingredient by combined weight without any single sweetener appearing first.

The FDA defines added sugars as sugars added during processing or packaged as such, including syrups, honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. Many of those sound nothing like "sugar."

The complete list of added sugar names

These are the names you'll see on cereals, bars, yogurt, sauces, and snacks. The last column shows the spelling clue for each one.

No list is exhaustive, but this one covers the names you're most likely to meet in a US supermarket.

Ingredients that indicate added sugars: 4 spelling clues

You don't need to memorize 61 names. Four patterns catch most of them.

1. Words ending in "-ose"

Dextrose, fructose, glucose, maltose, and sucrose are all sugars. Two look-alikes aren't: cellulose is a plant fiber, and sucralose is a zero-calorie sweetener.

2. Any word containing "syrup"

Corn, rice, tapioca, oat, maple, malt, and date syrups all count. The main exceptions are maltitol syrup, a sugar alcohol, and allulose syrup, which the FDA lets brands leave out of Added Sugars.

3. Any word containing "sugar"

Cane, beet, coconut, brown, and turbinado sugar all count, whatever the color or "raw" claim. "Sugar alcohol" is the one exception.

4. "Nectar" or "juice concentrate"

Agave nectar and fruit juice concentrates are sweeteners, even when the package talks about fruit.

The names with no clue

Honey, molasses, treacle, Sucanat, caramel, malt extract, and evaporated cane juice fit no pattern. These are the ones to learn by heart.

Sweeteners that are not counted as added sugars

Some sweet ingredients stay out of the Added Sugars line, which is why a sweet-tasting product can show 0 g.

• Sugar alcohols such as sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol, and maltitol end in "-ol", not "-ose". See our sugar alcohols list.
• Allulose is a rare sugar the FDA lets brands leave out of the Total and Added Sugars lines. Our allulose vs stevia comparison explains the rules.
• High-intensity sweeteners like stevia, monk fruit, sucralose, and aspartame aren't sugars at all.
• Sugars in whole foods, like whole or chopped dates, unsweetened dried fruit, and the natural lactose in milk, count toward Total Sugars only. Honey and date syrup, by contrast, are added sugars.
• Maltodextrin shows up on some sugar-name lists, but it's a starch-derived carbohydrate rather than a sugar, so it isn't counted in Added Sugars. Our guide to maltodextrin in food covers where it shows up.

"Not counted" describes how the label works. It isn't a health verdict on any of these ingredients.

How to spot added sugar quickly at the store

A quick routine beats reading every word. Here's one you can run on any package.

1. Read the Added Sugars line first. It totals every added sweetener for you. A serving with 12 g of added sugars shows 24% of the Daily Value set by the FDA, and a Daily Value is a reference amount, not a target. For the full math, see added sugar vs total sugar.
2. Count the sweetener names. A granola bar might list oats, then brown rice syrup, cane sugar, and honey. Three sweeteners in the first five ingredients is worth noticing, even if each one looks minor.
3. Check where they fall. A sweetener in the first three ingredients, or three or more anywhere in the list, usually means sugar is a major ingredient. Breakfast cereal is a classic example, and our ingredients to avoid in cereal decoder walks through it.
4. Don't stop at the front of the box. "Fruit-sweetened" products often rely on juice concentrate, and that still counts as added sugar.

If the panel itself feels unfamiliar, our Nutrition Facts label explained guide goes line by line.

What the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines say about added sugar

The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that no amount of added sugars is recommended, and suggest keeping added sugars to no more than 10 grams per meal. That per-meal number is easy to use at the shelf: compare one serving's Added Sugars line against it.

The American Heart Association gives a daily version, about 25 g for most women and 36 g for most men. Both treat every name in the table the same way, so organic coconut sugar and white sugar count equally.

The bottom line

The Nutrition Facts panel tells you how much added sugar a product has, and the ingredient list tells you where it comes from. Start with the Added Sugars line, then use the four spelling clues and count how many sweeteners appear near the top. Once you know the names, a sweet-sounding "natural" ingredient stops being a surprise. If you'd rather not squint at tiny type in the aisle, Osana can scan a barcode and flag the sugar names in the ingredient list for you.

Frequently asked questions

Is evaporated cane juice the same as sugar?

Yes. In final guidance issued May 25, 2016, the FDA said "evaporated cane juice" is false or misleading and recommended calling the ingredient "sugar," for example "cane sugar." The guidance also says "dried cane syrup" isn't an acceptable substitute. Because the guidance is nonbinding, you may still spot the old term on some labels.

Is high fructose corn syrup the same as regular sugar?

They're similar but not identical. Table sugar (sucrose) is half glucose and half fructose. HFCS comes in two main blends: HFCS-55, used in sodas, has slightly more fructose than that, and HFCS-42, used in baked goods, slightly less. Both count as added sugars. Our guide to high fructose corn syrup in food covers the details.

Does "no added sugar" mean a product has no sugar?

No. The product can still contain natural sugars from fruit or milk, which show up in Total Sugars but not in Added Sugars. Our added sugar vs total sugar guide explains how to read both lines.

Are honey and coconut sugar better than white sugar?

On the label, no. Honey, coconut sugar, maple syrup, and date syrup all count as added sugars, just like white sugar. Words like "unrefined" or "natural" don't change how they're counted or how they fit into the Dietary Guidelines' per-meal limit.