56 Different Names For Sugar You Should Know

Tricky Names Used To Hide Added Sugar In Food Labels

Sugar enhances the texture, flavour, and shelf-life of processed foods. The added sugar in processed foods is a mixture of simple sugars like glucose, fructose, and sucrose. Other types of sugars, like lactose, maltose, and galactose, are less common. Excessive consumption of sugar can lead to many harmful results. As a result, food labels indicate the presence of sugar and its daily value percentage to help consumers avoid excessive sugar consumption. However, there are so many different names for sugar, how can you make informed choices?

Here are the fifty-six different names for sugar that you should note.

1. Sugar or sucrose.

Sucrose is the most common name for sugar, and it occurs naturally in many plants and fruits. It comprises 50% fructose and 50% glucose. Table sugar is also called sucrose. You can find sucrose in many processed foods, including pastries, soda, cookies, candy, ice cream, fruit juices, cereals, processed meat, canned fruits, and ketchup.

READ ALSO: Top 5 Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Weight

2. High fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is made from corn starch and consists of both glucose and fructose. Many sweeteners contain HFCS. The two most common forms of HFCS found in foods and beverages are

1. HFCS 42: This form has 42% of fructose, and the remaining 58% is glucose and water.
2. HFCS 55: This is the most common form of HFCS. It has 55% of fructose, and the remaining 45% is a mixture of glucose and water.

You can find HFCS in bread, cakes, ice cream, cereal bars, candy, and soda.

3. Agave nectar or syrup.

Agave nectar or syrup comes from the agave plant. Most people will use this as a healthier substitute for sugar because it doesn’t spike the blood sugar levels like other sugars. However, it contains between 70-90% fructose and 10-30% glucose.

You can find agave nectar or syrup in many healthy foods like fruit bars, cereal bars, and sweetened yogurts.

4–37. Other sugars contain both glucose and fructose.

These sugars contain both glucose and fructose but in varying degrees. They include:

1. Raw sugar
2. Cane sugar
3. Date sugar
4. Beet sugar
5. Coconut sugar
6. Golden sugar
7. Castor sugar
8. Grape sugar
9. Muscovado sugar
10. Panela sugar
11. Invert sugar
12. Yellow sugar
13. Confectioner’s/powdered sugar
14. Icing sugar
15. Demerara sugar
16. Treacle sugar
17. Turbinado sugar
18. Brown sugar
19. Honey
20. Molasses
21. Blackstrap molasses
22. Caramel
23. Carob syrup
24. Golden syrup
25. Maple syrup
26. Buttered syrup
27. Sorghum syrup
28. Refiner’s syrup
29. Fruit juice
30. Fruit juice concentrate
31. Cane juice crystals
32. Florida crystals
33. Rapadura
34. Sucanat

38–52. Sugars containing glucose.

These sugars are made up of either pure glucose or glucose combined with other sugars asides fructose. They include:

1. Glucose
2. Glucose solids
3. Dextrose
4. Maltose
5. Lactose
6. Dextrin
7. Maltodextrin
8. Ethyl maltol
9. Diastatic malt
10. Barley malt
11. Malt syrup
12. Rice syrup
13. Brown rice syrup
14. Corn syrup
15. Corn syrup solids

53–54. Sugars that contain fructose only.

There are two sugars that contain only fructose, and they are used as sweeteners.

1. Fructose
2. Crystalline Fructose

55–56. Other sugars contain neither glucose nor fructose.

These sugars are less sweet and not as common as their counterparts, but you Can find them in some sweeteners.

1. D-ribose
2. galactose

Sugar occurs naturally in vegetables, fruits, and dairy products. As a result, you cannot altogether avoid sugar in your diet, even if you tried. It is safe to consume naturally occurring sugars in whole foods. The health problems associated with sugar consumption is due to the massive amounts of added sugar in processed foods.

If you choose to buy packaged foods, be on the lookout for these sugars and their daily percentage value. Or better still, switch to eating healthy, whole foods.

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