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SUGAR: HOW SWEET IT IS
The average American eats more than 146 pounds of sugar each year, plus 16 pounds of artificial sweeteners. It’s just too much.
We drink more soda than milk in this country, and buy far more sugared drinks than fruit juice. Studies have shown, that as sugar intake goes up, vitamin and mineral intake and general well-being goes down. Some recent studies have even shown that women who eat a lot of sugar are at greater risk for having children with birth defects.
Cereals, grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and plain yogurt all contain sugars. But, these are natural sugar choices. Vitamins, minerals and fiber come packaged with the sweetness. In contrast, soda, candy, fruit drinks, cakes, cookies, ice cream, jelly and syrup offer little more than sweetness and calories, and are loaded with added sugar.
The difference between natural sugar and added sugar is significant. But you can’t rely on nutrition labels to help you sort things out. The nutrition label on a quart of milk tells you that one cup contains 14 grams of sugar. All of it is from naturally occurring lactose or milk sugar. The label on fruit punch tells you that a one cup serving has 30 grams of sugar. But, almost all of that is from added sugar.
So, how do you tell natural sugars from added sugars?
Rely on the ingredient listing. In addition to the word “sugar”,
look for the following terms, all of which mean added sugars. Ingredients
are listed in descending order by volume. The closer added sugar is to
the top of the list, the more is in each serving.
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SUGAR BY ANY OTHER NAME
| Barley malt | Honey |
| Beet juice | Invert sugar |
| Brown rice syrup | Malt syrup |
| Brown sugar | Maltodextrin |
| Cane syrup | Maple sugar |
| Corn sweetener | Maple syrup |
| Corn syrup | Molasses |
| Crystalline fructose | Muscavado |
| Dextrose | Raw sugar |
| Evaporated cane juice | Sorghum |
| Fruit juice concentrate | Sucrose |
| Fructose | Sugar in the raw |
| High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) | Turbinado |
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Bottom line:
Pick sweet foods with naturally occurring sugars, like milk and fruit, more
often. Choose foods with added sugars, like fruit drinks, desserts, and sweetened
cereal, less often.
For more information on sugars, carbohydrates and fiber, look for the newly released, The Ultimate Carbohydrate Counter by Annette B. Natow, PhD and Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD in local bookstores or at www.amazon.com.
© (Feb. 2005), NRH Nutrition Consultants, Inc., www.thenutritionexperts.com
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