GLOSSARY

Free Sugars are a public-health category concerning sugars' origin and presentation, not a description of a molecule being chemically unbound. The concept is particularly useful for assessing habitual consumption of sweet foods and drinks.

WHO free sugars include added sugars as well as sugars in honey, syrups, fruit juice and fruit-juice concentrates. Sugars within intact fruit and naturally present milk lactose are outside this definition. Consequently, 'no added sugar' does not necessarily mean 'no free sugars' or 'sugar-free'.

WHO recommends keeping free sugars below 10% of daily energy, with further reduction to around 5% or less potentially offering additional benefit. This is population guidance about intake patterns. Targeted fuelling during prolonged exercise still needs duration, overall diet and oral health considered; exercise does not justify unlimited sugar throughout the day.

Glucose or sucrose does not become a different molecule simply because its origin is natural or added. Practical differences often concern amount, food structure, fibre and accompanying components. Eating whole fruit differs from drinking a large sweetened beverage even when some sugars share the same chemical names.

Food is more than the sum of listed components. Cellular arrangement, fibre, fat, and protein influence nutrient release and digestion. Whole and ground forms of a seed, for example, may behave differently during digestion despite sharing the same starting material.

A recurring pattern over time is more informative than a single meal when assessing a diet. Food quantity, frequency, drinks and meal composition matter together. A sweet food within an adequate, varied plan has a different meaning from repeatedly using it to replace main meals.

For many endurance activities lasting about 1–2.5 hours, sport guidelines suggest 30–60 grams of carbohydrate per hour. Events beyond roughly 2.5–3 hours may use up to 90 grams per hour with suitable source combinations and gut practice. These ranges are not universal instructions for short exercise or every individual.