How to identify hidden sugar in foods

If you're trying to improve your diet, one of the first recommendations from nutrition experts is often to reduce your intake of added sugar. Sounds easy, right? Well, this could have been absolutely real if food labels didn't have so many different words for sugar.Sweeteners can be added to food under different names, none of which sounds like sugar. In fact, many of the ingredients seem healthy. And sugar can be added to unsweetened foods, making it much more difficult to control consumption. For these reasons, it would be wise to learn different words for sugar so that you can notice it in your food and decide if these foods are right for you.

What are added sugars?

Sugar is a type of carbohydrate that is sometimes referred to as"simple carbohydrates". Sugar is naturally found in many foods, such as fructose in fruit or lactose in milk.

But in some cases, manufacturers also add extra sugar to processed foods to add or balance the flavor. For example, sugar can be added to a savory salad dressing, peanut butter, or spaghetti sauce. Or you can use a sweetener to make the food thick or give it a texture.

Added sugar also includes any sugar product that you add to your food during meals. This can be table sugar that you add to your morning coffee or cereal. It can also include the syrup you pour on pancakes, or the agave syrup you add to smoothies.

Why Added Sugars matter

Anyone who wants to improve their eating habits should be aware of added sugars. In many cases, you can consume much more sugar than you think, and if it exceeds the recommended limits, it can affect your health. According to the recommendations, added sugar should not exceed 10% of the total daily calorie intake.

Several studies have found a direct link between excessive sugar intake and obesity and cardiovascular problems worldwide. Some people, such as those who follow low-carb or low-glycemic diets to lose weight or treat diseases, should be especially careful. The presence of these sugars often indicates a higher glycemic index in the food. While for most purposes, simply knowing the amount of carbohydrates is sufficient for those who follow a low-carb diet, there are times when you may need additional information to make the right choice. That is, you need to know whether sugar was added to the food during processing and how much.

For example, if the label of a bottled sauce says that a teaspoon of this product contains "zero carbohydrates", this number could be rounded down. And if you consume more than the portion size indicated, you may actually be consuming enough sugar to affect your health. When you read the label, you will see if sugar has been added to the sauce and sometimes you will even be able to understand exactly how much of it has been added.

Sugar on food labels

The ingredients are usually listed according to the amount included in the food. For example, the first ingredient of bread is usually some type of flour, because there is more flour than any other ingredient. Water is usually the first ingredient in many drinks.

But this is another reason that finding sugar in food can be difficult. Sometimes there are small amounts of many types of sugars, so none of them make it to the list of the first few ingredients on the label, even if the food contains a significant amount of added sugar.

In other cases, the sugar is disguised as a healthy ingredient, such as honey, rice syrup, or even " organic dehydrated cane juice." Since the word "sugar" is not part of the name, it may not seem like sugar to you.

Sometimes fruit juice concentrate is included in food that seems healthy, but usually selected juices, such as white grape, apple, and pear juice, are the least nutritious of the juices. When they are concentrated, there is very little of the most natural juice, but a lot of sugar.

Different names of sugar

These are some of the possible words for the word "sugar" that may appear on the label.

* Agave nectar

· Barley malt syrup

* Beet sugar

· Brown rice syrup

· Brown sugar

· Cane crystals (or cane juice crystals)

· Cane sugar

· Coconut sugar or coconut palm sugar

* Corn sweetener

* Corn syrup or corn syrup solids

* Dehydrated cane juice

* Dextrin

* Dextrose

· Condensed cane juice · Fructose

* Fruit juice concentrate

* Glucose

· High fructose corn syrup

· Honey * Invert sugar

· Lactose · Maltodextrin

* Malt syrup

* Maltose

· Maple syrup

* Molasses (beet molasses)

* Palm sugar

· Unrefined sugar

* Rice syrup

* Sucrose

* Sorghum or sorghum syrup

* Sucrose

* Syrup

* Molasses · Turbinado sugar

· Xylose

You'll notice that the words "syrup," "sweetener," and anything ending in-oz can usually be mistaken for sugar. If the label says "no added sugars", it means that they should not be contained, although the food may contain natural sugars (for example, lactose in milk).

Sugar alcohols

Many products that do not contain sugar, contain ingredients called sugar alcohols. These include ingredients such as maltitol and sorbitol.

Sugar alcohols are neither sugar nor alcohol. But they can affect your blood sugar levels, and in fact some believe that these ingredients can be just as bad or even worse than sugar.

Ingredients ending in " ol " may be sugar alcohols. If you monitor your sugar intake to monitor your health, learn more about the specific ingredient (and how it can affect your health) before you consume it.

Trying to remember all the different words for sugar can seem like a daunting task because there are so many different terms to know. But once you get the hang of it, finding the hidden sugar in your food will become easier. Once you know how to identify sugar, you will learn to better choose foods that match your specific nutrition plan and wellness program.