Whether you’re someone who always keeps a box in your purse, backpack, or desk, or simply accepts one when offered, many of us enjoy Tic Tac mints from time to time. They’re useful for freshening breath and are available in various minty and fruity flavors.
Two of the best-known things about Tic Tacs are that they are tiny and low in calories. Yet while this is true, a closer look at the Nutrition Facts reveals some interesting information about what’s actually inside these popular breath mints (though perhaps it’s more accurate to call them candy).
Even though Tic Tacs are widely marketed with slogans such as “The 1 1/2 Calorie Breath Mint” and “Two Hours of Tic Tac Freshness in Less Than Two Calories,” the Nutrition Facts on U.S. packages say that one mint has 0 calories, 0g of fat, 0g of sodium, 0g of protein, and, most surprising of all, 0g of carbohydrates. In fact, Tic Tacs are almost entirely sugar; depending on the flavor, at least 90%. The list of ingredients makes this abundantly clear: sugar, maltodextrin, rice starch, gum arabic, natural and artificial flavors, carnauba wax, magnesium stearate, and various dyes.
If you look even more closely, you’ll see an asterisk next to "sugar" and the explanation: “Adds a trivial amount of calories, total sugars, and added sugar.” The manufacturer is able to round that "trivial" amount down to 0 because of the serving size. One Tic Tac is just 0.49g, just slightly lower than the 0.5g threshold for listing sugar and other nutrients. According to the FDA, any ingredient amount lower than 0.5g can be listed as 0. In reality, a single Tic Tac contains about 0.45 grams of sugar.
In many other countries, food labels state not just the nutritional information per serving but also per 100 grams. For example, if you buy Tic Tacs in Australia, you’ll see that 100 grams equates to 398 calories, 0.1g protein, 0.7g fat, 11mg of sodium, and, for the big reveal, 96.7g of total carbohydrates, of which 93.3g are sugar.
Hopefully, very few of us regularly eat 100 grams of Tic Tacs (that’s around 200 mints). But it’s worth knowing that those tiny mints aren’t really sugar-free; they’re actually almost entirely sugar!
It's not just a mint, it's a Tic Tac:
- Tic Tacs were first introduced in 1969 by the Italian manufacturer Ferrero. The original name, “Refreshing Mints,” was changed to Tic Tac in 1970 in reference to the sound of the mints clicking together when you open the plastic pack.
- In addition to the original flavors, Fresh Mint (1969) and Orange (1974), Tic Tac now offers Citrus Adventure, Spearmint, Wintergreen, Berry Bliss, Cherry Cola, Strawberry and Cream, and many others. The original Fresh Mint flavor is made with mint essential oil, distilled from peppermint grown in Italy’s Piedmont region, surrounded by layers of vanilla coating.
- The FDA's serving size loophole certainly isn’t just used by Ferrero. If you’ve ever found yourself greatly exceeding the recommended serving size, it could be because it's a smaller portion than people usually consume, which allows the manufacturer to describe the product as “low sodium” or “low fat.”
- There are certain Tic Tac products made without sugar, including the larger Tic Tac Chill (sweetened with xylitol) and the newly introduced Tic Tac Two (sweetened with sorbitol and sucralose), though neither product is widely available in the U.S. as of June 2025.
