Foods with Naturally Occurring Sugars

• Fruits (sucrose, glucose and fructose)
  • apple, raw 1 cup: 2.5 grams of sucrose, 3 grams of glucose, 7 grams of fructose
    
  • banana, raw 1 cup mashed: 5 grams of sucrose, 11 grams of glucose, 11 grams of fructose
    
  • grapefruit, pink 1 cup: 8 grams of sucrose, 3.5 grams of glucose, 4 grams of fructose
    
  • pear, Bartlett 1 cup: 1 gram of sucrose, 3.5 grams of glucose, 9.5 grams of fructose
    
• Vegetables (sucrose, glucose and fructose)
  • asparagus, raw 1 cup: 0.3 grams sucrose, 0.75 grams glucose, 1.5 grams fructose
    
  • broccoli, raw 1 cup: 0.1 gram sucrose, 0.5 grams glucose, 0.5 grams fructose
    
  • carrots, raw 1 cup: 5.0 grams sucrose, 0.75 grams glucose, 0.5 grams fructose
    
  • spinach, raw 1 cup: 0.02 grams sucrose, 0.03 grams glucose, 0.05 grams fructose
    
• Dairy (lactose)
  • cottage cheese 2% milkfat, 4 oz: 5 grams lactose
    
  • milk, 2% milkfat, 1 cup: 13 grams lactose
    
  • yogurt, plain low-fat, 6 oz: 12 grams lactose
    
• Nuts and seeds (sucrose)
  • almonds, dry roasted 1 cup: 7 grams sucrose
    
  • pecans, 1 cup: 4.5 grams sucrose
    
  • walnuts, black 1 cup: 1.25 grams sucrose
    
• Grains (sucrose, glucose, fructose and maltose)
  • pasta, cooked 1 cup: 0.01 grams sucrose, 0.05 grams glucose, 0.5 grams maltose
    
  • rice, brown long grain cooked 1 cup: 0.5 grams sucrose
    
  • rye grain cooked, 1 cup: 1.2 grams sucrose, 0.25 grams glucose, 0.2 grams fructose
    
  • wheat flour, whole grain 1 cup: 0.5 grams sucrose
    

Types of Sugar Added to Foods

If a sugar is added to a food, it is considered an "added sugar". The following are common sugars added to foods:

• cane sugar
• corn sugar
• dextrose
• brown sugar
• honey
• fructose
• sucrose
• high fructose corn syrup
• corn syrup
• brown rice syrup
• agave sugar
• dehydrated cane juice
  
• concentrated fruit juice
  

Hidden Sources of Sugar

Although sugar is mainly thought of a sweetener, it is also a preservative, texture modifier, flavoring agent and bulking agent. Texture refers to mouth feel and bulk generally means volume. For example, adding sugar to a cake will increase the volume of the cake, in addition to making it sweet! The brown discoloration you see on many baked goods is the result of the Maillard reaction. When protein and sugar are heated, the result is a browning. This means that sugar is also a coloring agent. Take a look at the image below. All of the products have added sugar.

Foods with Added Sugar

The following chart includes examples of various food products with added sugar. Although most of the sugar in these products is added, there is also naturally occurring sugar in some products, such as milk and marinara sauce. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 5% of total calories from added sugar, 25 grams for women and 35 grams for men per day.

Food	Sugar (grams)
Nutrigrain Mixed Berry Cereal Bar, 1 bar	39 g
Jamba Juice Green Tea with Soymilk, 1 cup	28 g
Marinara sauce, 1 cup	23 g
Chocolate milk, low fat, 1 cup	23 g
Brownie, commercially prepared, 1 large	20 g
Pudding, vanilla, 4 oz container	19 g
APPLEBEE'S, crunchy onion rings, 1 serving	16 g
Cracklin' Oat Bran, 3/4 cup	16 g
Quaker Instant Oatmeal, 1 packet	13 g
Hardee's BBQ Sauce, 1 oz	6 g
Peanut butter, 2 tbsp	3.5 g
Campbell's Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup, 1 cup	3 g
Bread, whole grain, 1 slice	2 g
Reduced fat Italian dressing, 1 tbsp	1.5 g

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References

1. United States Department of Agriculture. National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference Release 28. Last accessed March 14, 2016. https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/nutrients/index
2. SELF Nutrition Data Know What You Eat. Food Search. Last accessed March 14, 2016. http://nutritiondata.self.com/
3. Added Sugars. American Heart Association. Updated February 9, 2016. Last accessed March 14, 2016. http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyEating/Nutrition/Added-Sugars_UCM_305858_Article.jsp#.VueE1T80uLY
4. Tamanna, N and Mahmood N. Food Processing and Maillard Reaction Products: Effect on Human Health and Nutrition. Int J Food Sci. 2015; 2015: 526762.
5. Sugar crystal header image by Marko Knuutila on FlickrCC, CC BY 2.0.
   
6. Foods with Hidden Sugar, used with permission, CC BY 2.0.
   

Last updated April 9, 2016.