How much sugar is really in your everyday snacks?
A chocolate bar carries roughly 50–60 g of sugar per 100 g. Breakfast cereals range from under 5 g to over 35 g. Fruit yoghurts often carry three times the sugar of plain yoghurt. The variation within a category is usually larger than the difference between categories, which is where comparison pays off.
Read per 100 g, always
Per-100 g figures are mandatory in the EU and are the only basis on which two products can be honestly compared. Per-portion figures are optional and the portion size is chosen by the manufacturer, frequently a number nobody eats.
A cereal quoting "9 g sugar per serving" with a 30 g serving is 30 g per 100 g. That is a third sugar by weight. The per-serving number is not a lie; it is a smaller number placed where your eye lands first.
Rough thresholds
UK front-of-pack traffic-light guidance, per 100 g:
| Low (green) | Medium (amber) | High (red) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugars | ≤ 5 g | 5–22.5 g | > 22.5 g |
| Fat | ≤ 3 g | 3–17.5 g | > 17.5 g |
| Saturated fat | ≤ 1.5 g | 1.5–5 g | > 5 g |
| Salt | ≤ 0.3 g | 0.3–1.5 g | > 1.5 g |
These were designed for comparison within a category. Olive oil is red for fat and is not a bad food. Use them to choose between two cereals, not to rank a cereal against an avocado.
Typical ranges
Approximate per 100 g, and note the width of each range. That is the point:
| Product | Sugar per 100 g |
|---|---|
| Milk chocolate bar | 50–60 g |
| Breakfast cereal | 1–37 g |
| Fruit yoghurt | 10–16 g |
| Plain natural yoghurt | 4–6 g |
| Cola | 10–11 g per 100 ml |
| Fruit juice | 8–12 g per 100 ml |
| Cereal bar | 20–35 g |
| Tomato ketchup | 20–25 g |
| Digestive biscuit | 15–20 g |
| Bread | 2–6 g |
The cereal range is the striking one. In a single supermarket aisle you can find products differing by a factor of thirty. No amount of front-of-pack design tells you which is which. Only the number does.
The sugar aliases
Manufacturers can move sugar down the ingredient list by splitting it into several forms. Instead of "sugar" at position two, you get four different sugars at positions five, seven, nine and eleven. Individually small; collectively the second ingredient.
Recognise these as sugar: glucose, glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, dextrose, maltose, maltodextrin, invert sugar syrup, molasses, treacle, agave nectar, honey, fruit juice concentrate, rice syrup, barley malt extract, caramel, muscovado, demerara.
"Fruit juice concentrate" is the one that catches people. It sounds like fruit and functions as sugar. Products sweetened with it are frequently marketed as having "no added sugar", which is true under the labelling rules and misleading in the aisle.
The claims and what they mean
| Claim | Legal meaning |
|---|---|
| Sugar-free | ≤ 0.5 g sugar per 100 g / 100 ml |
| Low sugar | ≤ 5 g per 100 g solids, ≤ 2.5 g per 100 ml liquids |
| No added sugar | No sugars added during manufacture; naturally occurring sugars can be high |
| Reduced sugar | ≥ 30% less than a comparable product, which may still be a lot |
| Unsweetened | No sweetening agent added |
"No added sugar" and "reduced sugar" are the two doing the most work for marketers. A no-added-sugar fruit juice can carry 10 g per 100 ml. A reduced-sugar biscuit at 30% less than a very sugary biscuit is still a sugary biscuit.
The swaps that change your basket
Ranked by how much difference they make:
- Breakfast cereal: the widest range of any category. Switching can cut 30 g per 100 g.
- Yoghurt: plain yoghurt with your own fruit typically saves 8–12 g per 100 g.
- Drinks: the single largest source of added sugar in most diets.
- Sauces and dressings: ketchup, sweet chilli and barbecue sauces are 20 %+ sugar and hide in savoury meals.
- Cereal bars: frequently marketed as healthy while carrying more sugar than chocolate.
The practical method is not memorising numbers. It is scanning two products in the aisle and reading which one wins. Three seconds, and it changes what goes in the basket.
Frequently asked
Is fruit sugar better than added sugar?
Whole fruit comes with fibre, water and volume, which slows absorption and fills you up. That is a genuine difference. Fruit juice and fruit juice concentrate remove the fibre, and behave much more like added sugar. "No added sugar" juice can still be 10 g per 100 ml.
How much sugar per 100g is high?
Over 22.5 g per 100 g is classed as high under UK traffic-light guidance; 5 g or less is low. These thresholds are designed for comparing products within a category rather than ranking foods against each other.