Does the body use ‘added’ sugars and sugars that are naturally present in foods in a different way?
No, they get used by the body in the same way. All sugars, whether they’ve been added to foods or are naturally present in foods, are made up of the same building blocks (sugar molecules) -either as single sugar molecules (monosaccharides – glucose, fructose and galactose) or two sugar molecules joined together (disaccharides – sucrose, lactose and maltose). This is why sugars, whether added or natural, get treated by the body in the same way and provide the same amount of calories - 4kcals/ gram of sugar.