Catalog data

Added sugar in kids snacks: what 2,166 labels show

Data snapshot 2026-09-18 · 2,486 published products from 462 brands · 2,166 with a recorded Added Sugars value. This describes our selected catalog — an editorial database weighted toward lower-sugar options parents ask about — not a market-share survey. Methodology and sources: The Sugar Tier System.

The distribution

Of the 2,166 products with a recorded value, 63% list 0g added sugar on the label. 17% land between 0.1 and 3g per serving, 9% between 3.1 and 5g, and 227 products (10%) exceed 5g — 88 of them exceed 10g in a single labeled serving. The American Heart Association's added-sugar limit for ages 2–18 is 25g per day across all food and drink, so one 10g serving spends 40% of that budget.

Added sugar by category

Categories with at least 15 recorded products. Median and average are grams of added sugar per labeled serving; serving sizes differ by category, so compare within a row's category page rather than across rows.

Category	Products	Median added	Average added	0g added share
Yogurt	99	4g	6g	40%
Cookies & Baked	145	4g	5.1g	23%
Bars	207	2g	3.2g	35%
Cereal	157	2g	2.8g	42%
Spreads	41	1.69g	3g	34%
Frozen Snacks	105	1g	4g	46%
Nuts, Seeds & Beans	67	1g	2.1g	45%
Meat Sticks & Jerky	66	0g	1.2g	70%
Fruit Snacks	118	0g	0.7g	88%
Drinks	81	0g	0.7g	83%
Crackers & Chips	670	0g	0.5g	72%
Pouches	277	0g	0.4g	90%
Cheese Snacks	56	0g	0.2g	88%
Seaweed Snacks	34	0g	0g	97%

What stands out

Yogurt is the hardest aisle. It has the highest median added sugar (4g per serving) of any category with 15+ recorded products, and only 40% of its products list 0g added.

Savory categories are structurally safe. Cheese snacks, seaweed, crackers and chips, and unsweetened pouches all show 77–95% of products at 0g added — in those aisles the sugar question is mostly already answered, and sodium becomes the label line to read instead.

Method and exclusions

Values are grams of added sugar per labeled serving, transcribed from each product's US Nutrition Facts panel or its recorded source; see each product page for its source and label-check date.
320 published products have no recorded Added Sugars value and are excluded from every figure above. Missing data is never treated as zero.
Serving sizes are the manufacturers' labeled servings and differ across products and categories.
The catalog is editorially curated toward products parents ask about; shares here describe this catalog, not shelf space or sales in any store.

Cite this analysis

NoSugarForKids, “Added Sugar in Kids Snacks: Catalog Data Analysis,” data snapshot 2026-09-18, https://www.nosugarforkids.com/data/kids-snack-sugar. Figures update as the catalog grows; cite the snapshot date shown on the page.