The 'Includes Added Sugars' line seems like an obvious feature now, but adding it to the Nutrition Facts label was a hard-fought change that took years and drew heavy opposition.
The problem it solved
For decades, the label showed only Total Sugars, which lumped natural sugars (in fruit and milk) together with sugar added during processing. That made it impossible for shoppers to tell a naturally sweet food from one loaded with added sugar — even though public-health science increasingly pointed to added sugar as a driver of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.
The scientific case builds
Through the 2000s and 2010s, evidence mounted. The Dietary Guidelines and the World Health Organization converged on limiting added sugars to about 10% of daily calories. Health advocates argued the label had to distinguish added sugar for that advice to be actionable.
Industry resistance
The proposal met significant pushback. Parts of the food and sugar industries argued that added and natural sugars are metabolically identical, that a separate line would confuse consumers, and that singling out sugar was unfair. The debate over the science and the labeling stretched across years of public comment.
The 2016 decision
The FDA sided with the public-health case. As part of the 2016 label redesign, it finalized the 'Includes Xg Added Sugars' line, complete with its own % Daily Value based on a 50-gram daily limit. Large manufacturers had to comply by 2020.
Why it matters for drinks
The added sugars line landed hardest on beverages, where a single sweetened drink can carry an entire day's added sugar. Making that visible was much of the point. It also highlighted a remaining gap: made-to-order drinks still carry no label — the frontier BevFacts is built for.