Sugar Has Many Disguises

Careful reading of labels is necessary to know how much added sugar you are getting.

Here is a list of some of the possible code words for “sugar” which may appear on a label.

Hint: 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 could contain naturally-occurring sugars such as lactose in milk)

Corn sweetener

Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids

Dehydrated Cane Juice

Dextrin

Dextrose

Fructose

Fruit juice concentrate

Glucose

High-fructose corn syrup

Honey

Invert sugar

Lactose

Maltodextrin

Malt syrup

Maltose

Maple syrup

Molasses

Raw sugar

Rice Syrup

Saccharose

Sorghum or sorghum syrup

Sucrose

Syrup

Treacle

Turbinado Sugar

Xylose

Remember, your body doesn’t care what the label says, it’s all just “sugar”!

A Word about Sugar Alcohols

A lot of “Sugar Free” foods have ingredients called sugar alcohols in them such as maltitol and sorbitol. These ingredients can be as bad as or worse than sugar.