"Unsweetened" is a subclass of "no sugar added" though, and so if you're really looking for "unsweetened", you still have to read the labels of all of the "no sugar added" products that chose that (more generic) label over the (more specific) "unsweetened" label.

[–] whatsarefoogee@lemmy.world 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Unsweetened is a subclass of "zero/no sugar". No sugar added is a completely separate thing.

No sugar added does not mean the product doesn't contain sugar or that it's not sweet. It only means there was no extra sugar added during the preparation. A "no sugar added" fruit juice, jam or even ketchup is still going to be sweet.

Something like pure maple suryp qualifies as no sugar added despite being 99% sugar.

[–] 133arc585@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago

I see what you're saying. I think I said this in another comment, but my goal is just to avoid (overly-)sweet foods. From that standpoint, "unsweetened" is ideal. But "no sugar added" for something that's naturally somewhat sweet (such as tomato paste) is also acceptable. If I were to pick up tomato paste that said "no sugar added" but did have artificial sweeteners, I'd be horrified. So I guess the terminology is more straightforward if you're avoiding sugar, but it's less useful if you're avoiding sweetness.