is there sugar in juices when they say no sugar added

Mediocrates

Yes, fruit and fruit juice contain fructose. Fructose is natural, but is a sugar.

This is not to be confused with high fructose corn syrup, which is commonly used in soft drinks and processed foods.

Other naturally occurring sugars are lactose (contained in milk), maltose (contained in malt beverages), and galactose. Table sugar is sucrose. All are broken down in the body to become glucose.

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JohnR41

Brianne, there certainly can be sugar in juice when they say "no sugar added". It's against the law to add granulated sugar when the juice container says "NO SUGAR ADDED". But there are ways for food processors to violate that law and go undetected. I used to work in citrus processing and I have actually seen my boss adding several bags of granulated sugar to a large vat of orange juice concentrate.

The problem: There were not enough sweet oranges being processed that day to bring the juice up to a certain required level of sweetness. How many people have ever thought of that before? Oranges get trucked in from groves all over central Florida. Not all oranges contain the same sweetness.
As truckloads come in, the oranges (truck by truck) are tested for sweetness and numbered from about 1 to 18. A number 1 orange is so bitter, it can make your face pucker if you try to eat it. And, to the other extreme, a number 18 is so sweet it tastes like candy (oranges sold in supermarkets are rarely that sweet, if ever). So all these different levels of sweet oranges have to be blended to come up with a juice that is acceptable to the general public.

Some days there are just not enough sweet oranges to blend with those that are not so sweet, so they add granulated sugar. Of course, they make sure that there are no state inspectors watching. I wasn't even supposed to see it but I happened to walk in when the boss wasn't expecting me. And he made sure I promised not to say anything to anyone. Then I realized why they had so many cabnets in the blending room that were locked with big padlocks. The cabnets were full with bags of granulated sugar.

Does it happen with other juices like apple, grape and prune? I wouldn't have any way of knowing but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

I always recommend that people eat fruit because fruit has fiber and is therefore better for your health.

tjlhb

Yes, the sugar from the fruit itself is in the juice.

It is generally better from a health standpoint to eat whole fruit rather than drink the juice, since the whole fruit contains the fiber and satisfies you with fewer calories consumed than the juice does.

Tx2Sum

What about products like Paul Newman's grape juice which advertises 100% grape juice? You have to be careful with advertisements.

tjlhb

Grapes contain sugar. That sugar ends up in the 100% grape juice.