Sugar: the Many Names Used in Processed Foods

Both glucose and fructose are common, but they affect the body very differently. Glucose can be metabolized by nearly every cell in the body. Fructose is metabolized almost entirely in the liver. Fructose has harmful effects on the body, including insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver, and type 2 diabetes. It is especially important to minimize the intake of high fructose sugars. Many processed foods will have a combination of sugars. Because the ingredient are listed in order of quantities, using several different sugar names presents the illusion that sugars are less prominent in the ratio of ingredients.

Sugar / Sucrose Agave Nectar Sugar with Glucose & Fructose Also knows as table, granulated, or Produced from the agave plant in Various Amounts white sugar, occurring naturally in 79-90% fructose, 10-30% glucose Beet Sugar fruits and plants, added to many Blackstrap Molasses processed foods. Sugar with Fructose Only Brown Sugar, Dark or Light Brown 50% glucose, 50% fructose Crystalline Sugar Fructose Buttered Syrup High Fructose Corn Syrup, HFCS Cane Juice Crystals Sugar without Glucose or HFCS 55 – the most common type Fructose Cane Syrup of HRCS. 55% fructose, 45% D-Ribose, Ribose Cane Sugar glucose, composition is similar to Galactose Caramel sucrose Caramel Color HFCS90 – 90% fructose, 10% Names for Hidden Sugars Carob Syrup glucose Aguamiel Castor Sugar All-natural sweetener Coconut Sugar Names Used to Denote Hight Barbados Molasses Confectioner’s Sugar (Powdered Fructose Corn Syrup Barbados Sugar Clarified Grade Sugar) High-fructose Corn Syrup Juice Concentrated Date Sugar HFCS Fruit Juice Date Syrup Corn Sugar Cornstarch Demerara Sugar Natural Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup Disaccharides Evaporated Cane Juice, Filtered Fig Syrup Isolated Fructose, Furctose Isolate Honey Guar Gum Isoglucose Florida Crystals Heavy Syrup Maize Syrup Jaggery Fruit Sugar, Fruit Syrup, Fruit Glucose Syrup Lactose Sweetener Glucose/Fructose Syrup Levulose Fruit Juice, Fruit Juice Concentrate Dahlia Syrup Light (Lite) Sugar Golden Sugar Fruit Fructose Light (Lite) Syrup Golden Syrup Tapioca Syrup Modified Food Starch Grape Sugar Crystalline Fructose Monosaccharides Honey Fruit Fructose Natural Syrup Icing Sugar Nectars Invert Sugar, Invert Sugar Syrup Sugars with Pure Glucose or Polysaccharides Maple Syrup Glucose with Sugars other than Raisin Syrup Molasses Fructose Ribbon Cane Syrup Muscovado Sugar Barley Malt Soy Sauce Panela Sugar Brown Rice Syrup Raw Sugar Sugar Alcohols Corn Syrup Refiner’s Sugar Erythritol Corn Syrup Solids Mannitol Refiner’s Syrup Corn Sweetener Sorbitol Sorghum Syrup Dextrin Xylitol Sorghum Molasses Dextrose Sucanat Diastatic Malt Chemical Sweeteners Treacle Sugar Ethyl Maltol Acesuifame Potassium Turbinado Sugar Glucose Aspartame Yellow Sugar Glucose Solids Neotame Hydogenated Glucose Syrup Saccharin Lactose Stevia Malt Syrup Sucralose Splenda Sources: Maltodextrin Mottl, Pooja, Huffingtonpost.com, “Food Labels, How to Spot Hidden Sugars” Maltose Bjarnadottir, Adda. Healthline.com, “The 56 Most Common Names for Sugar” Rice Malt or Syrup O’Bryan, Tom, You Can Fix Your Brain, Rodale, 2018