Juice Concentrate Counts As Added Sugar

The Guiding Stars program is now even better at guiding you toward foods with less added sugar.

What Is Juice Concentrate?

Juice concentrates are concentrated sources of natural sugars from fruits and vegetables. While juice can be a nutritious choice, when they’re added to a product in this concentrated form (without any additional water to dilute it), they’ve been added as a sweetener, just like sugar or syrups. The FDA made the decision to consider “juice concentrates” as an added sugar ingredient. We feel strongly that aligning Guiding Stars with this decision not only helps us reflect current policy, but also is a transparent way to inform customers of foods that are lower in added sugars.

Which Foods Are Affected?

• Many baby foods use fruit juice concentrates as a sweetener. This population, in particular, should avoid added sweeteners as evidenced by recommendations from the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans which recommends avoiding added sugars in the diets of infants and young children . We are focused on maintaining the integrity of our program by staying relevant to current policy and transparent about added sugars in foods marketed to such an important population.
• Many other foods marketed to the general public are also affected by this change. As manufacturers have looked for more natural sweeteners, some have turned to adding juice concentrates to their products. This ingredient, while from fruits or vegetables, still is a source of sugar.

While we are happy to inform you of this change, the impact is quite small. In total, out of more than 100,000 products we have rated, this change impacted only 218. These products that contain juice concentrate now receive fewer points from the Guiding Stars algorithm because of their updated added sugar amounts. However, not all of these 218 products have lost all their stars because of the change.

What Products Are Excluded?

There are some exclusions to counting juice concentrates as an added sugar as outlined by the FDA’s definition. These exclusions are:

• Items that contain juice concentrates that have been reconstituted with water
• Juice concentrates in jams, jellies, preserves, or spreads
• Lemon, lime, cranberry, onion, celery, and carrot juice concentrate used for color or preservation

Learn more about our ratings by checking out our white paper that details the Guiding Stars algorithm.