Hidden Sugar in Everyday Irish Foods: What's Actually in the Packet
Safefood Ireland found that Irish adults consume on average 24 teaspoons of added sugar daily - nearly double the WHO recommendation. Most of it doesn't come from biscuits.
In 2016, Safefood Ireland published a comprehensive survey on sugar consumption across the island of Ireland. The headline finding was striking: adults were consuming an average of 24 teaspoons of sugar per day. The WHO recommends no more than 12 teaspoons for adults - and ideally under 6 teaspoons of "free sugars" for additional health benefits. The gap isn't being filled by obvious culprits like sweets and soft drinks. It's coming from foods most people consider healthy or at least neutral.
The "Healthy" Yogurt Problem
This is the one that surprises most people consistently. A standard low-fat fruit yogurt - the kind marketed at health-conscious shoppers - typically contains 11–14g of sugar per 100g. That's roughly 3.5 teaspoons in a single 125g pot. Full-fat plain yogurt from the same shelf averages 4–5g per 100g. The reason is straightforward: when manufacturers remove fat, the product loses flavour and texture. Sugar (and often modified starch) is added to compensate.
The Safefood sugar guidance for Ireland specifically highlights low-fat dairy as a category where "reduced fat" can inadvertently mean "significantly more sugar."
Pasta Sauces, Soups, and the Savoury Trap
A jar of supermarket pasta sauce regularly contains 8–12g of sugar per 100g. A 350g portion for one person contains the equivalent of 3–4 teaspoons of sugar in what most people would describe as a healthy dinner. Tomato soup is similarly sweetened - tomatoes are acidic, and manufacturers add sugar to balance the flavour profile.
The issue isn't that these products are unusually bad. It's that most people aren't accounting for them when thinking about their sugar intake, because they're not "sweet foods."
The WHO recommends limiting free sugars to less than 10% of total energy intake - around 50g (12 teaspoons) per day for an adult eating 2,000 calories. Reducing to below 5% provides additional health benefits. [WHO, Healthy Diet Fact Sheet]
Sugar's 50+ Aliases
Part of why hidden sugar is hard to track is that it appears under many different names on ingredient lists. Manufacturers aren't doing anything illegal - each of these is a legitimately different compound - but the effect in the body is broadly similar. Common ones to watch for:
- Glucose-Fructose Syrup - very common in processed snacks and drinks, chemically similar to table sugar
- Maltodextrin - technically a starch, but has a high glycaemic index and is often used as a filler in savoury products
- Invert Sugar Syrup - a mix of glucose and fructose, frequently found in baked goods
- Fruit Juice Concentrate - legally "no added sugar" but delivers a concentrated hit of fructose
- Coconut Sugar / Date Syrup - common in "natural" health snacks, but metabolised essentially the same as regular sugar
The "no added sugar" claim refers specifically to refined sucrose. Products sweetened with fruit concentrate or honey can legally carry that label while still delivering significant sugar loads.
Bread: The Quiet Contributor
Most sliced pan bread in Irish supermarkets contains 3–5g of sugar per 100g. Across 4–6 slices a day, that adds up to 6–10g of sugar from bread alone - before you've eaten anything that looks sweet. The HSE's Healthy Eating guidelines recommend choosing high-fibre varieties, which tend to be lower in added sugar as well as higher in fibre.