The "No Added Sugar*" Hall of Fame: Six Label Tricks That Earn a Trophy

Last Week, I wrote about CocoLove Chocolate, whose brand site cheers "No Added Sugar*" — asterisk: that claim is for the Original flavor; the Chocolate contains cane sugar. It got me thinking about how many products deserve a trophy for technically-true, practically-misleading sugar claims. Welcome to the Hall of Fame. Inductees are enshrined for the gap between what the front of the package whispers and what the nutrition panel admits.

The Inductees

• The Asterisk (CocoLove Chocolate). A claim that belongs to a different flavor on the same brand page. The asterisk isn't lying — it's just hoping you won't follow it. Lesson: claims attach to the exact product in your hand, never the brand.

• The Juice Box (100% juice, "no added sugar"). Nothing added, because nothing needed adding: a small box of apple juice can carry ~21–24g of sugar, and 12oz of orange juice runs about 36g — within a few grams of a can of Coke (39g). Juice sugar is sugar, fiber-free and fast.

• Nature's Candy-Coating (raisins & dried fruit). A serving of raisins has about 29g of sugar with 0g "added." The FDA&'s own guidance makes the point with cranberries: sweetened dried cranberries land at the same 29g total — it just gets labeled 25g added. Same sugar, different paperwork.

• The Low-Fat Swap. Take the fat out, put sugar in to fix the flavor. Low-fat yogurts and dressings routinely carry more sugar than their full-fat versions (one common comparison: ~18g vs ~8g). "Low-fat" is a fat claim, not a sugar promise.

• The Shrinking Serving. A 16oz bottle labeled as two 8oz servings halves the scary number. Nobody in history has drunk half a bottle and recapped it for tomorrow. Multiply by servings per container — always.

• The Filler Blend (stevia & monk fruit packets). The packet says stevia; the ingredient list

  often leads with dextrose or maltodextrin as bulking agents. Pure stevia is sugar-free — the blend may not be. First ingredient wins.

The 20-Second Defense

• Skip the front. Marketing lives on the front; truth lives on the back. Go straight to Total

  Sugars and the ingredient list.

• Check servings per container first. Then do the multiplication the label hopes you'll skip.

• Know the legal meanings. "Sugar-free" is strict (under 0.5g per serving, total). "No added

  sugar" only governs what was added during processing — nature's sugar doesn't count

  against it.

• Sweeteners have 60+ aliases. Fruit juice concentrate, agave, honey, malt syrup, dextrose — if it ends in -ose or pours like syrup, treat it as sugar until proven otherwise.

None of these products are villains, exactly — raisins are fine food. The villain is the gap between the claim and the contents, and it closes the moment you flip the package over.

Twenty seconds, every time, and the Hall of Fame stays empty.