INGREDIENTS ON LABELS THAT REALLY SPELL SUGAR When you are reading food labels, it is helpful to know how to decipher which ingredients are sugar. (which typically means that the sugar retains some minerals). It is also common for manufactured products to contain more than one form of sugar. The following label ingredients are all forms of sugar: • agave • diastatic malt • agave nectar • evaporated cane juice • barley malt • fructose • barley malt syrup • fruit juice • beet sugar • fruit juice concentrate • brown rice syrup • galactose • brown sugar • glucose • cane crystals • glucose solids • cane juice • golden syrup • cane sugar • high-fructose corn • monk fruit (luo han guo) • saccharose • caramel syrup • muscovado sugar • sorghum • coconut sugar • honey • palm sugar • sorghum syrup • corn sweetener • inulin • panela • sucanat • corn syrup • invert sugar • panocha • sucrose • corn syrup solids • jaggery • rapadura • sugar • crystalline fructose • lactose • raw cane sugar • syrup • date sugar • malt syrup • raw sugar • treacle • dehydrated cane juice • maltodextrin • • turbinado sugar • demerara sugar • maltose • rice bran syrup • yacon syrup • dextrin • maple syrup • rice syrup • dextrose • molasses What’s the Dierence Between SUGAR SUBSTITUTES: Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load? From the Frying Pan into the Fire Glycemic index is a measure of how quickly the car- Any food that causes elevated blood glucose is not conducive to health. So there has been a surge in low- sugar levels. The higher the glycemic index, the glycemic-index sweeteners, heavily marketed to diabet- higher (and faster) your blood sugar will rise after ics and those on low-carb diets, which fall into three categories: not take into account the carbohydrate density of a particular food. Glycemic load measures how quickly 1. Sugars that do not impact blood-glucose levels as quickly or substantially as glucose or glu - blood-sugar levels, taking into account how many carbohydrates are likely to be consumed in a serving. cose-based starches, which are marketed as low- Some foods have a high glycemic index but a low glycemic-index sugars (fructose, inulin) glycemic load: while the sugars in those foods are 2. Sugar alcohols (sorbitol, xylitol, erythritol) easily absorbed and impact your blood sugar quickly, there aren’t that many of them, so the net effect is 3. Nonnutritive sweeteners, including acesulfame that these foods are often still healthy choices (water- potassium, aspartame, neotame, saccharin, and melon is a good example). sucralose, as well as the “natural” sugar substitute stevia.