How much sugar are you really eating?
It's widely recognised that eating (or drinking!) too much sugar can contribute to various health problems. Related symptoms include weight gain, blood sugar problems and an increased risk of heart disease. Links have also been made between high sugar consumption and moods disorders such as anxiety and depression as well as chronic fatigue and other associated syndromes.
For these reasons, many people are trying to choose lower sugar options but food labelling can make this tricky! Sugar comes in many forms and has a host of different names that often look or sound nothing like sugar. The list below is by no means exhaustive but gives some of the more common names for sugar that might be listed on food packaging.
-Sucrose
-High-fructose corn syrup
-Fructose
-Honey
-Corn syrup
-Maple syrup
-Molasses
-Maltodextrin
-Maltitol
-Agave nectar or syrup
-Evaporated cane juice
-Erythritol
-Barley malt
-Dextrose
-Coconut sugar
-Cane sugar
-Fruit juice concentrate
-Grape sugar
-Grape concentrate
-Raw sugar
-Brown sugar
-Demerara sugar
-Palm sugar
-Brown rice syrup
-Date sugar
Sugar, and its alternatives, are commonly found in processed foods. They are often added to activate the area of our brain that feels 'rewarded' with a quick sugary fix and make us want more of it. It can also help make the food taste more appealing or to increase the product's shelf-life. A quick glance at food labels shows how even processed foods considered savoury, can actually contain very high amounts of sugar. This can easily mislead us into thinking we're consuming less sugar than we actually are.
This table below made by Viridian Nutrition is a great tool to work out roughly how much sugar you are consuming; and whether this is considered light, medium, heavy or very heavy use.
What can I do?
Look at the 'carbohydrates as sugars' section on the packaging. This is commonly found under 'Nutritional Information'.This information gives you the combined sugar content from both natural and added sugars. Less than 5g per 100g is low, more than 15g per 100g is considered high.
Check the ingredients list for glucose, sucrose, fructose, and all the others mentioned in the above list. The higher up the ingredients list these are, the more sugar the product will contain. Scanning product packets needn't be an arduos chore, on the contrary it can simply provide you with the information necessary to be more informed about your food choices. If you are concerned about your sugar intake, drop in and have a chat with one of our Nutritional Advisors about how you can make it easier to cut back on your sugar intake.