Here’s something crazy for you to think about if you’re watching your sugar intake. When you look at a label to assure yourself that the amount of sugar you are about to consume is within your healthy range, think again. Sugar, if you are not aware, has many different names and because of a loophole provided by the FDA, food companies do not need to qualify them under the total sugar in the product.
According to Hungry for Change, the FDA does not require food companies to provide you with an “Added Sugars” line (in grams) within the “Sugars” section on the nutrition facts label. Instead, added sugars are only mentioned in the ingredients list. But no matter what you call them, sugar is sugar. Look specifically at the list of ingredients for the following “hidden sugars” that all end in -ose: sucrose, maltose, dextrose, fructose, glucose, galactose, lactose, high fructose corn syrup, glucose solids. Be leary of these too: cane juice, dehydrated cane juice, cane juice solids, cane juice crystals, dextrin, maltodextrin, dextran, barley malt, beet sugar, corn syrup, corn syrup solids, caramel, buttered syrup, carob syrup, brown sugar, date sugar, malt syrup, diatase, diatastic malt, fruit juice, fruit juice concentrate, dehydrated fruit juice, fruit juice crystals, golden syrup, turbinado, sorghum syrup, ethyl maltol, maple syrup and yellow sugar.
