A proposed simple method for objectively quantifying free sugars in foods and beverages.

Public health and regulatory assessments and guidance on sugars increasingly focus on free (rather than total or added) sugars in the diet. This emphasizes differentiation between sugars consumed within versus outside of an intact plant matrix. However, there is no analytical method for free sugars, and quantitative determination in heterogenous and processed products containing mixed sizes of plant particulates as ingredients (e.g., soups or chopped and cooked foods) is particularly problematic for nutrition declarations and monitoring. The method suggested here is based on sieving, with the particle size threshold derived from data on the typical end-products of mastication. This simple method could generate an objective, quantitative estimate of free sugars that logically corresponds to the free sugars concept in public health. It has the potential to be applied to many product types, and is proposed as a possible standard method for empirical testing and possible wider validation and endorsement.