Sugar by any other name will taste as sweet
(thanks to Shakespeare for the inspiration in my headline)
Here’s a list of names by which manufacturers disguise the sugar they add to improve the taste of their products; hook you into cravings and generally addict you to their sweet poison. Some are pseudonyms for sugar, others are sources of bad sugars (fructose or mixtures of fructose and sucrose):
SUGAR
A
Agave nectar or syrup
“Anything” Sugar – raw, brown, icing, demerara, cane, white, crystalized, cane, beet, palm
Auamiel
B
Barbados molasses
Barbados sugar
Barley malt
Beet sugar
Blackstrap molasses
Brown sugar
C
Cane sugar
Can syrup
Caramel
Caramel color (used in food and beverages)
Clarified grape juice
Coconut sugar
Cooked honey
Concentrated fruit juice
Confectioners sugar
Corn syrup
Corn sweetener
D
Dark brown sugar
Dates
Date sugar
Date syrup
Dried fruit of any type
F
Figs
Fig syrup
Filtered honey
Fructose
Fruit juice concentrate (when used as as sweetener)
Fruit sugar
Fruit sweetener
G
Granulated sugar
Grape sugar
H
Heavy syrup
High fructose corn syrup
Hydrogenated glucose syrup
I
Invert sugar
Invert sugar syrup
J
Jaggery
L
Lactose
Levulose
Light brown sugar
Light sugar
Light syrup
Lite sugar
Lite syrup
M
Malt
Malts
Malted
“Anything” malt
Malto-anything
Maltodextrose
Malt syrup
Mannitol
Maple sugar
Molasses
N
Natural honey
Natural syrup
Nectars (all)
P
Palm sugar
Powdered sugar
Pure honey
R
Raisins
Raisin syrup
Raw honey
Raw sugar
Rice malt
Rice syrup
S
Sorbitol
Sorghum molasses
Sorghum syrup
Succanat
Sucrose (cane or beet)
Sugar
Sugar cubes
Sugar packets
T
Turbinado sugar
U
Uncooked honey
Unfiltered honey
W
White sugar
Even More Names:
100% Natural Sweetener
All natural Sweetener
Sweetener
Pure Natural Sweetener
Naturally Sweetened
Saccharine
Low calorie sweeteners and Lite or light sweeteners of all kinds
No wonder we have a nutritional problem or two (download the Sugar list of conditions due to or made worse by bad sugars). There are far too many ways to disguise bad sugars.
- Published in Blog, Kalari Crush
Sugars ain’t Sugars, Sol
I am not sure how many of us remember that car oil advertisement from which I borrowed my title but it gets my meaning across pretty well.
In the same way as fats are now classed as good fats and bad fats, sugars (or all carbs for that matter) can be lumped in the same way.
The main bad sugar is actually regarded as a natural fruit sugar and is twice as sweet as table sugar of sucrose. It is fructose which is found in cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, honey (up to 40% of the weight), palm and beet sugar. And of course, it is a major sugar in sweet fruits eg mangoes, stone fruits, melons, grapes etc.
It has not been long in our history since sugar cane growing wild across South and Southeast Asia spread over the entire globe. Sugar is now the largest agricultural crop in the world by volume which is a frightening statistic.
So why is a natural sugar so bad for us?
I recently found this video on sugar and the effects of fructose in the body which make it more a toxin than a nutrient. Clearly, we are NOT what we eat but what we DO with what we eat.
It is a long and detailed presentation but worth every minute if you want to immerse yourself into the world of nutrition, sugar conspiracies, government bungling, low fat diets and the way science and nutrition have been controlled and have misinformed us for over 30 years leading to the obesity epidemic.
It is a little US focused and the presenter talks about high fructose corn syrup which is not yet used in Australia but the information is excellent and a real eye-opener. I highly recommend making the time to watch it.
Antioxidants have also been shown to reduce insulin resistance (and therefore leptin resistance too) and fibre can stimulate the release of ghrelin from the stomach which is another satiety factor.
All this can help our body handle the bad sugar a little better but it is still highly recommended that we curb our intake of fructose from all sources.
- Published in Blog