Added sugar: How to stop craving
- Dietitian.Lauren Hmede
- May 16, 2019
- 3 min read
36 Different Names for Sugar in Your Food:
How to Recognize Sugar on Food Labels
In order to lose weight it is not enough just to eat less than you burn. There are more important think you need to follow for reaching a successful result.
One important step is to stop eating sugar, this sounds easy but in fact this is not simple as you think. Sugar is founded in many products and labelled under 36 different names that dont indicate the word "sugar"!! Moreover, sugar can be present in non-sweet product which makes the process difficult.
So today, we will learn what are added sugar and how can you track them on food label.
What Are Added Sugars?
Sugars are type of carbohydrates defined as simple carbs. Sugar can found naturally in some fruits: fructose and in milk: the lactose sugar.
Many manufactures add extra sugar to processed food to enhance flavor or for thickening purposes.
For example, sugar can enhance the flavor of peanut butter, savory dressings or spaghetti sauce.
Added sugar can be also any sugar you may add to your food like simple sugar in coffee or a cup of tea or even the syrup to pancakes.
Why Added Sugars Matter
According to the USDA recommendations, intake of added sugar should not exceed 10% of total calories and unfortunately, we may consume much more than we need.
Excess sugar consumption has been linked to obesity and cardiovascular disease. Added sugar are high glycemic index food which cause rapid spike in blood sugar.
Other people who are following a low carbs diet especially diabetic patient need carbs counting when they need to know where they can find sugar in food and how much is the amount present.
By reading the label, you'll see whether sugar was added to the sauce and can sometimes get an idea of how much.
Sugar on the Food Label
Ingredients on products are listed according to their amount. For example, the first ingredient in bread is usually some type of flour because there is more flour than any other ingredient. Water is usually the first ingredient listed in many beverages.
Finding sugar can be tricky, some products may not listed sugar as first ingredient even it is present in substantial amount.
Another point is, sugar is classified as "healthy" ingredient like honey, rice syrup, or even “organic dehydrated cane juice.” Because the word "sugar" is not part of the name, it doesn't sound like it is sugar.
Sometimes fruit juice concentrate is included in a food which sounds wholesome, but usually, the juices chosen, such as white grape, apple, and pear juices, are among the least nutritious of the juices while they are concentrated in sugar.
Different Names for Sugar
These are some of the possible words for “sugar” which may appear on a label.
Agave nectar
Barley malt syrup
Beet sugar
Brown rice syrup
Brown sugar
Cane crystals (or, even better, "cane juice crystals")
Cane sugar
Coconut sugar or coconut palm sugar
Corn sweetener
Corn syrup or corn syrup solids
Dehydrated cane juice
Dextrin
Dextrose
Evaporated cane juice
Fructose
Fruit juice concentrate
Glucose
High-fructose corn syrup
Honey
Invert sugar
Lactose
Maltodextrin
Malt syrup
Maltose
Maple syrup
Molasses
Palm sugar
Raw sugar
Rice syrup
Saccharose
Sorghum or sorghum syrup
Sucrose
Syrup
Treacle
Turbinado sugar
Xylose
You'll notice that the words “syrup,” “sweetener,” and anything ending in “ose” can usually be assumed to be “sugar.” If the label says “no added sugars,” it should not contain any of the following, although the food may contain naturally-occurring sugars (such as lactose in milk).
Sugar Alcohols
A lot of "sugar free" products contain "sugar alcohol" like maltitol and sorbitol. Any word ending with "ol" indicates sugar alcohol.
Sugar alcohols aren't sugar and they are not alcohol. But they may impact your blood sugar levels, and in fact, some believe that these ingredients can be as bad or worse than sugar.
If you are watching your sugar intake to manage a health condition, get more information about the specific ingredient (and how it might affect your health) before consuming it.
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