Easter is coming up so I thought it would be worth mentioning “SUGAR” again! As many of my clients will already know the body will use up nearly all the Fat and Proteins that you consume to manufacture bone, hair, muscle, hormones etc. But what does the body use Carbohydrates for??? There is only one real function and that is energy. If you don’t use all the “Energy” that you consume it will store it for when you may need it! And you get fat! Carbohydrates are everywhere now, and they becoming more and more hidden in our foods! Why? because they are addictive and the food manufacturers want you to keep buying their products. As we become more educated on sugar in our food so the manufacturers try harder to hide it!!
Nutrition labels on packaged foods are required to list the total grams of sugar per serving, in addition to providing a list of all ingredients the product contains. But when it comes to ingredient lists, “sugar” isn’t the only name sugar goes by. There are 61 different titles and names for sugar in food products that are represented on food and beverage labels.
Sugar on Food Labels
All packaged foods and drinks have to list the sugar content per serving. This information must appear on a product’s nutrition facts label, along with things like calorie, fat, sodium and fiber content. But manufacturers aren’t required to list how much of the total sugar in a food or drink is naturally-occurring (as with, say, 100% fruit juice) and how much comes in the form of added sweeteners. The majority of sugars in a typical diet are those added to foods and drinks during processing and preparation. To spot added sugars or sweeteners in a product, you need to look below the nutrient info to its ingredient list.
Common Names For Sugar
Added sugars show up on food and drink labels under the following names: Anhydrous dextrose, brown sugar, cane crystals, cane sugar, corn sweetener, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, crystal dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose sweetener, fruit juice concentrates, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, liquid fructose, malt syrup, maple syrup, molasses, pancake syrup, raw sugar, sugar, syrup and white sugar. Other types of sugar you might commonly see on ingredient lists are fructose, lactose corn sweetener, dextrose, fruit juice concentrates, glucose, invert sugar, lactose, malt syrup, raw sugar, sucrose, sugar syrup, cane crystals, cane sugar, crystalline fructose, corn syrup solids, malt syrup and maltose. Fructose is sugar derived from fruit and vegetables; lactose is milk sugar; and maltose is sugar that comes from grain.
Less Common Names For Sugar
Some of the less apparent sugar names include carbitol, corn sweetener, diglycerides, disaccharides, evaporated cane juice, erythritol, Florida crystals, fructooligosaccharides, galactose, glucitol, glucoamine, hexitol, inversol, isomalt, maltodextrin, malted barley, malts, mannitol, nectars, pentose, raisin syrup, ribose rice syrup, rice malt, rice syrup solids, sorbitol, sorghum, sucanat, sucanet, xylitol and zylose.
Determining Added Sugar Content
On nutrition facts labels, ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. The relative position of sugar — by any of its names — in an ingredients list identifies whether a product contains a lot of sugar or just a small amount. Products that list sugar sources near the top of the ingredient list or have several types of added sugar throughout the list have high added sugar content.
No Sugar Added
The statement “no sugar added” can only be used if no sugar or sugar-containing ingredient is used during processing. Sugar-containing ingredients covered under this standard include honey, molasses, high-fructose corn syrup, malt syrup and cane syrup. For example, some ice creams are labelled “no sugar added” because they have not been sweetened with sugar, but they are not sugar free because they contain lactose, a natural milk sugar.
Sugar Free
Guidelines require that a food must containing less than 0.5 grams of sugar per serving to be labeled as “sugar free.” This includes naturally occurring forms of sugar and any ingredient that contains sugar. Technically, the food product does not have to be completely free of sugar, as long as it meets the per-serving requirement. While half a gram of sugar is rather insignificant, keep this fact in mind if you plan to consume multiple servings of a food.
Artificial Sweeteners
The terms “sugar free” and “no sugar added” do not give you any information about artificial sweeteners. Products carrying either of these claims on the label may include artificial sweeteners. Read the ingredients list to identify what kind of sweeteners are contained in a food. Aspartame, acesulfame potassium, saccharin, sucralose and neotame are examples of artificial sweeteners that can be found in sugar-free or no-sugar-added foods.
Implications
Too much sugar in the diet can lead to health problems such as poor nutrition, weight gain, increased blood pressure, diabetes and tooth decay. Statements about sugar content on a label can help you manage your sugar intake, but these claims do not tell the whole story. If a food is labelled “sugar free” or “no added sugar,” it does not mean that the food is low calorie or carbohydrate free. The best source of information on a food label is the nutrition facts panel, which lists calorie content, total carbohydrate and sugar content as well as a complete list of ingredients.
EASTER EGGS
With Easter comes the temptation of chocolate, it is everywhere you look this time of year – on the supermarket shelves, garages, even in butchers! However, understand what you are consuming before you delve in, here is a guide on calories in Easter eggs (choose wisely!!)
