Don’t trust “Zero Added Sugar”? Neither do we.
0. Meet your hero
POV: You try a product that contains “zero added sugar”, and it tastes ridiculously sweet. Not sugary sweet, but somehow… sweeter? And it’s not that you didn’t want it to be sweet, per se, but you can’t help thinking: this can’t be natural.
Welcome to the world of non-sugar sweeteners, a jungle so tangled it has been begging someone to go in with a flaming sword shaped like an insulin molecule to hack away at the murk and present things in some clear categories. We volunteer ourselves. By the way, we tried halving a papaya with this insulin sword and it is seriously blunt. It’s the blobbiest sword we’ve ever used.
(Insulin molecule - from https://www.britannica.com/science/insulin)
Swing! Hit! Whack! Here’s what we – Thwack! – endeavor to help you understand:
- “Total Sugars” vs “Added Sugars” on a Nutrition Facts Panel
- The main sugar alternatives companies use
- How they’re made
- What we know about how the body handles them
- Potential health concerns
1. Nutrition Facts
First, when you turn over the Nutrition Facts panel and look for the S-word, here’s what you’ll find.
- Total Sugars - This is all sugars: those naturally present plus any that are added.
- Added Sugars - These are sugars added during processing, plus syrups, honey, and most fruit/vegetable juice concentrates used as sweeteners. (cf. Legal Information Institute)
By the way, nature doesn’t think in these terms. Neither does your body. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) does. But the FDA is tasked with trying to reduce complex biology into a useful table, and the logic here is that naturally present sugars (i.e., those that would appear under Total Sugars but not Added Sugars) haven’t been taken out of their original nutritional context.
To explain this a bit by illustration: date powder, which Moonbeans uses as our primary source of sweetness, doesn’t count as Added Sugar because it is powdered whole dates, not just the sugar from the dates. Dates do contain sugar, obviously! Like all fruit. But date powder brings along everything else in the date – micronutrients and, importantly, dietary fiber. By contrast, coconut sugar, which is a common “unrefined” sweetener, does count as Added Sugar, because it is an isolated form of just the sugar from a coconut. Most everything else gets siphoned out: fiber, fat, etc.
So if you’re a chef or food scientist and you want to make a product taste sweet, you have three alternatives:
- Use a natural sweetener, like cane sugar, coconut sugar, honey, maple syrup, date syrup, agave, etc. These all count as added sugars.
- Use real food ingredients that don’t separate the sugar from the rest of the food, like date powder. These don’t count as added sugars.
- Use an artificial sweetener. These don’t count as added sugars.
Most of this post will focus on artificial sweeteners, since they’re much more commonly used.
All of the real food ingredients that taste sweet but don’t count as Added Sugar are foods that naturally taste sweet. Shocker. We mentioned date powder. Here are a few other examples, just so you’re aware:
- Date powder – Fine tan powder from whole dates; rich caramel sweetness, great for binding and browning in baked goods. (Also called Date Sugar – it’s the same thing, just sometimes a different grind consistency.)
- Apple powder – Pale powder from whole apples; gentle sweetness, light acidity, good for body and crisp textures in dry mixes.
- Prune powder: Moisture‑retentive; adds mild caramel notes; good for bakery binding.
- Banana powder: Yummy bananas; full of potassium; works in smoothies, cookies, bars.
- Fig powder: Small seeds add texture; honeyed flavor; useful in granola and fillings.
- Raisin powder: Deep fruity sweetness; aids browning; popular in cereals and snacks.
- Mango powder: Tropical, tart‑sweet; brightens fruit bars and coatings.
- Pear or peach powder: Gentle sweetness; complements spice blends.
- Blueberry/berry powders: Color + polyphenols; moderate sweetness; great for antioxidants.
- Pumpkin powder: Mild sweet earthiness; rich in fiber.
Okay! Onto the world of the synthetic.
2. High-intensity artificial sweeteners
The lineup:
- Aspartame
- Sucralose
- Acesulfame potassium (Ace-K)
- Saccharin
- Neotame
- Advantame
Sweetness vs sugar: 200x - 20,000x. Yeah! This list of six has been approved by the FDA. They’re all synthetic (read: not natural) molecules produced through chemical synthesis or fermentation-style industrial processes. They can be derived from petrochemicals, sugars, or amino acids. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
How the body processes them
They either pass through the GI tract unchanged or are metabolized in small amounts because the dose is so low (e.g., aspartame is broken down to amino acids and a small amount of methanol). (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
Health concerns & research
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Safety assessments: The FDA and other regulatory bodies have repeatedly reviewed these sweeteners and consider them safe at or below the established Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI). (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
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Aspartame & cancer: In 2023, the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified aspartame as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” (Group 2B), while a parallel WHO/JECFA review maintained the existing ADI as safe for typical intake. In practice, this means uncertainty at high intakes, but no consensus that normal use is dangerous.
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Metabolic effects: Research on weight, blood sugar, and gut microbiome is mixed. Many trials show artificial sweeteners help lower sugar and calorie intake, but observational studies sometimes find associations with weight gain or metabolic issues (which may be due to reverse causality—people at higher risk often choose diet drinks).
- Phenylketonuria (PKU): People with PKU must avoid aspartame because they can’t properly metabolize phenylalanine; FDA requires a specific PKU warning on labels of foods with aspartame. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
3. Plant-derived high-intensity sweeteners
Main players:
- Stevia / steviol glycosides (from Stevia rebaudiana)
- Monk fruit / Luo Han Guo (mogrosides from Siraitia grosvenorii)
These start as plants! In their final, refined forms, they can be hundreds of times sweeter than sugar. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) Stevia leaves are steeped/extracted, purified through multiple filtration and crystallization steps to isolate specific steviol glycosides (the sweet bits). Monk fruit is processed to extract and concentrate mogrosides (the sweet bits). It’s sometimes produced via fermentation using microbes found in the fruit. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
How the body processes them
Steviol glycosides are broken down by gut bacteria into steviol, which is absorbed and ultimately excreted in urine. Monk fruit mogrosides also seem to pass through unchanged. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
Health concerns & research
Regulatory agencies (FDA, JECFA, EFSA) have concluded that purified steviol glycosides and monk fruit extracts are safe within their daily intake limits. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) Some studies suggest potential benefits for glucose control and blood pressure, but evidence is still evolving. Some people report GI discomfort at higher doses, though far less commonly than with sugar alcohols.
4. Sugar alcohols (polyols)
Who’s who:
- Erythritol
- Xylitol
- Sorbitol
- Maltitol
- Mannitol
- Isomalt, lactitol, etc.
Are these sugar? No. Are they alcohol? No. Then why are they called sugar alcohols?
Anyway, they’re sugar-like molecules the body only partially absorbs. Most sugar alcohols are produced by taking plant-derived sugars (from corn, wheat, birch, etc.), and chemically or enzymatically hydrogenating them into sugar alcohols. They’re moderately to highly processed but generally start from carbohydrates.
How the body processes them
Many sugar alcohols are partially absorbed in the small intestine, so they do have a caloric impact. What isn’t absorbed reaches the colon, where gut bacteria ferment it. (PMC) Erythritol is an exception: most of it is absorbed and excreted unchanged in urine, contributing almost no calories. (PMC) They tend to have lower glycemic impact than sugar and are often used in diabetic and low-carb products.
Health concerns & research
GI effects (the big one):
Sugar alcohols can cause bloating, gas, and diarrhea in a dose-dependent way, because they pull water into the colon and are fermented by gut bacteria. (PMC) People with IBS or sensitive digestion often react at lower doses. Products with significant sorbitol or mannitol must carry the statement: “Excess consumption may have a laxative effect.” (Yale New Haven Hospital)
Other considerations:
- Erythritol & cardiovascular risk: A recent small study found that very high erythritol intake (30 g) acutely increased certain clotting biomarkers, and larger observational studies have reported associations between higher circulating erythritol levels and cardiovascular events. These findings are preliminary, and causality isn’t established, but they’ve sparked new research. (Health)
- Dental health: Xylitol in chewing gum is well-studied for reducing cavities because oral bacteria can’t ferment it effectively. (Verywell Health)
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Pets: Xylitol is highly toxic to dogs, causing rapid drops in blood sugar and potential liver damage even at low doses. (Health)
5. “Rare sugars” like allulose and tagatose
Just like we said in the title:
- Allulose
- Tagatose
The hottest new entries in the sweetener world are rare sugars—molecules that look a lot like regular sugar but behave very differently metabolically. Allulose (D-psicose) tastes and behaves a lot like sugar in recipes but is much less caloric and has minimal impact on blood glucose. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) It’s typically made by enzymatically converting fructose (often from corn or sugar) into its rare-sugar isomer. It’s a refined ingredient, but the chemistry is relatively straightforward compared to synthetic high-intensity sweeteners.
How the body processes allulose
Most allulose is poorly absorbed, excreted in urine, and contributes little metabolically—hence the low caloric value. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
Health concerns & research
So far, clinical studies suggest good tolerance at moderate doses, with relatively few GI complaints compared to many sugar alcohols. Research is ongoing, but current evidence supports its use as a low-calorie sweetener in healthy adults. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration)
Tagatose
Tagatose is actually a rare pokemon. Just kidding. It’s a cousin of allulose. Clinical data are more limited than allulose, but it’s emerging in some low-sugar products Generally, it’s treated like a carbohydrate rather than an added sugar in terms of metabolic impact and labeling.
6. “Sweet fibers” and prebiotic syrups
Getting into the funky stuff here:
- Isomaltooligosaccharides (IMO)
- Inulin and fructooligosaccharides (FOS)
- Chicory root fiber syrups
These ingredients add bulk, fiber, and a mild sweetness — they’re not sweet enough to stand alone in most products, but they help reduce sugar. They’re typically produced by enzymatically modifying starches or plant fibers into chains of sugar units that humans digest poorly but gut bacteria can ferment. Processing can range from relatively simple extraction and purification (for chicory root fiber) to more complex enzymatic conversions (for IMOs).
How the body processes them
Many of these are classified as soluble fibers. Humans don’t digest them fully, but gut bacteria do, producing short-chain fatty acids and gas. Caloric value is usually assumed to be ~1–2 kcal/g, but this can vary depending on structure and degree of polymerization.
Health concerns & research
At modest doses, they can support gut health and improve stool consistency. At higher doses, they commonly cause bloating, gas, and discomfort, especially in people with IBS or FODMAP sensitivities. There is ongoing debate over how much of some IMO products are genuinely non-digestible vs partially digestible sugars.
7. Takeaways
Packaged food products are like politicians. They shout about the things they do best and whisper about the consequences or side-effects. So, a wise and informed consumer (sadly) must do their own sleuthing to figure out what’s really going on. Here’s what we recommend.
- Read the “Added Sugars” line first, not just the front-of-pack claim.
- Check the ingredient list to see how sweetness is delivered.
- Pay attention to how you feel after eating something — especially with sugar alcohols and fibers.
- Remember that “sugar-free” doesn’t always mean low-calorie or automatically healthy; the rest of the ingredient list and nutrient profile still matters.
Most brands claiming “no sugar added” or “zero sugar” aren’t using fruit powder – they’re using one of these categories of sweeteners.
Traditional “natural” sweeteners (like coconut sugar, raw cane sugar, honey, maple syrup, juice concentrates, and the like) are more whole-food-oriented in spirit – which we love – but still count as “Added Sugar” on the label, in part – to get into the FDA’s head for a minute – because of the way blood sugar responds to them.
Oh! As a post-script, what we do is sweeten with date powder and a tiny bit of monk fruit. You don’t taste the monk fruit – it just adds a little bit more sweetness. The flavor and sweetness are driven by the power of the almighty date.