When checking the ingredient list of a food product for sugar, it’s not as easy to find as it might seem. Sugar goes by many names. Why?
- It’s partly because different forms of sugar offer different chemical properties to a product, like texture or longer shelf life.
- It’s also because some forms of sugar are less expensive for manufacturers to use.
- And of course, it is likely that some manufacturers, while trying to make their products taste good with plenty of sugar, are perhaps trying to disguise or down-play how much sugar their products contain so we keep buying them.
Well, as always, you are your own best advocate. Familiarize yourself with these sugar terms and you can be well-informed when you read ingredient lists. There may be more out there, but it’s a good start. If it’s too overwhelming, I hear ya–you can always just choose unprocessed, easy, real foods!
- agave juice
- agave nectar
- agave sap
- agave syrup
- beet sugar
- brown rice syrup
- brown sugar
- cane juice
- cane sugar
- cane syrup
- clintose
- confectioners powdered sugar
- confectioners sugar
- corn glucose syrup
- corn sweet
- corn sweetener
- corn syrup
- date sugar
- dextrose
- drimol, dri mol, dri-mol
- drisweet, dri sweet, dri-sweet
- dried raisin sweetener
- edible lactose
- flo malt, flo-malt, flomalt
- fructose
- fructose sweetener
- glaze icing sugar
- golden syrup
- gomme, gum syrup
- granular sweetener
- granulated sugar
- hi-fructose corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup
- honey
- honibake, honi bake, honi-bake
- honi flake, honi-flake
- invert sugar, inverted sugar
- isoglucose
- isomaltulose
- kona ame, kona-ame
- lactose
- liquid sweetener
- malt
- malt sweetener
- malt syrup
- maltose
- maple
- maple sugar
- maple syrup
- mizu ame, mizu-ame, mizuame
- molasses
- muscovado sugar
- nulomoline
- powdered sugar
- raw sugar
- rice syrup
- sorghum
- sorghum syrup
- starch sweetener
- sucanat
- sucrose
- sucrovert
- sugar beet
- sugar invert
- sweet n neat
- table sugar
- treacle
- trehalose
- tru sweet
- turbinado sugar
- versatose
Source:
Popkin BM and Hawkes C. Sweetening of the global diet, particularly beverages: patterns, trends, and policy responses. The Lancet. 2016; 4(2):174-186.