New-Teaching2964 t1_j8nox4r wrote on February 15, 2023 at 5:28 PM

Reply to comment by KeepTangoAndFoxtrot in Study finds link between ‘free sugar’ intake and cardiovascular disease by YoanB

What’s the difference then between saying “free sugar” and just saying “sugar”

KeepTangoAndFoxtrot t1_j8nrran wrote on February 15, 2023 at 5:47 PM

As best as I can tell, "free sugar" is "more sugar than you would encounter naturally." For instance, fruit juices use way more fruits than you would normally eat in one sitting, whereas just plain old fruit isn't considered "free sugar." It's not incredibly clear to me either, though.

tharinock t1_j8otybk wrote on February 15, 2023 at 9:49 PM

It's a bit more than that. Drinking the juice of an orange would be free sugar, but eating the orange whole would not. I'm not a nutritionists or anything, but my understanding is the foods not counted as free sugar typically have the sugar bound up in a bunch of other stuff, so it takes longer to digest.