American adults who regularly check Nutrition Facts labels eat about 43 grams less added sugar a day than adults who rarely or never look, according to a study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published this month in the journal Nutrients.
Frequent label readers took in 61.7 grams of added sugar a day, or 11.7% of their calories. Infrequent readers took in 104.4 grams, or 17.5% of their calories. The difference was 42.8 grams a day.
What the researchers looked at
The team, from the CDC’s Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity, used federal survey data collected from 2017 to March 2020. The sample covered 9,416 people: 6,457 adults and 2,959 children. Participants described everything they ate over two separate days, and the researchers matched those meals against a federal food database.
People were counted as frequent label users if they said they checked labels always, most of the time or sometimes. About 78% of adults fell into that group.
Across everyone in the study, average added sugar intake was 70.3 grams a day, or 13.2% of calories.
Children and education
The gap was smaller for children. Kids in households that read labels often ate 64.5 grams of added sugar a day, compared with 79 grams in households that rarely did. The biggest difference, 43.1 grams a day, showed up among children in higher-income households. In the lowest-income homes, the difference was not statistically significant.
Label reading also tracked with education. About 90% of college graduates said they check labels at least sometimes, compared with about 63% of adults without a high school diploma.
What it does and doesn’t prove
The authors are careful about cause and effect. “The observational design cannot establish that reading labels caused lower sugar intake,” they wrote. People who already care about eating well may simply be more likely to read labels, and income may also play a role.
The current Dietary Guidelines for Americans, for 2025 to 2030, recommend no added sugars for children 10 and younger and no more than 10 grams per meal for older children and adults. Diets high in added sugar are linked to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, obesity and tooth decay.
Putting it to use
The FDA requires food makers to list added sugars on the Nutrition Facts panel, so the number is printed right on the package. Checking that line before an item goes in the cart takes a few seconds. Shoppers can hold two brands of the same food side by side and pick the one with less, and parents can use the guideline for young children, zero added sugar, as the target for kids’ snacks.
Conclusion
The study can’t prove that reading labels makes people eat less sugar. It does show that the Americans who take a few seconds to look are eating far less of it. The label is already on the package, and it costs nothing to read.
Sources
- News-Medical: A 43-gram sugar gap separates adults who check food labels from those who rarely do
- Koyama, Pejavara and Self, “Nutrition Label Use and Intake of Added Sugars in US Children and Adults,” Nutrients 2026, 18(22), 3733 (DOI 10.3390/nu18223733)